The field of talent development in football has received increased scholarly attention (Collins, McNamara & McCarthy, 2016; Saward, Morris, Minniti & Sunderland, 2020; Williams, Ford & Drust, 2020) as sport organisations endeavour to create optimal development settings for their athletes (Kelly et al., 2021). In response to this, a significant amount research has sought to understand the talent development environments of professional football academies. Specifically, the perceptions of professional academy coaches and the challenges they face in carrying out their role have been explored (Dowling et al., 2018; Larsen, Alfermann, Henriksen & Christensen, 2013; Morris et al., 2017). Relatedly, the work of Røynesdal et al., 2018; Nesti, Littlewood, O’Halloran, Eubank & Richardson, 2012; Relvas, Littlewood, Nesti, Gilbourne & Richardson, 2010; Richardson, Relvas & Littlewood, 2016; Webb, Dicks, Brown & O’Gorman, 2019 highlighted the cultural gap that exists between under 23 and first team environments.

However, we have yet to see any research exploring the talent development environments that are created by international football associations for professional academy footballers whilst they are on international ‘duty’. Indeed, there remains a lack of understanding around how international youth coaches and specialist support staff (i.e., fitness coaches, video analysts, sport psychologists etc.) frame their role when contributing to the overall development of academy players in an environment where coaches and staff have limited and irregular contact with players in comparison to club academy coaches and staff.

The study will be qualitative in nature to collect rich in-depth data to guide practice. The research team will endeavour to understand individual’s (international football association youth coaches, support staff and players) interpretations of their experiences around talent development and talent development environments. Data will be collected using semi-structured interviews to gain a rich and contextual insight (9-12 interviews on coaches and coaching staff) into the realities of talent development environments within international youth football (Larsen et al., 2013).

Research Aim & Key Research Questions

The aim of this study is to evaluate the talent development environments of international football associations. To achieve this aim, the study will be guided by two key research questions:

1. What is the structure of international football associations to support age groups and the challenges faced by coaches and specialist support staff in developing international youth footballers, and why? (Phase One)
2. How is the holistic development of professional academy footballers supported during key transitional stages throughout the international football association talent pathway (i.e., U17, U18, U19 etc.)? (Phase Two)