The missing children: a systematic scoping review on talent identification and selection in football (soccer)

Abstract

Talent identification and development systems represent a range of activities involving the detection, identification and selection of children as talents in sport. The process of identifying talents within football has been extensively researched, and several literature reviews have aimed to streamline talent systems and predict athletes’ capability. This review investigates the nature and extent of research to critically assess talent identification literature within football. Following guidelines for scoping reviews, a systematic search identified 2,443 studies, of which 73 were included in the analysis. Our review shows that the current literature; (a) seldom defines the identification process, but tends to focus on selection of talents, leaving out de-selection processes, (b) makes use of predominantly quantitative assessments including both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches, and (c) represents coaches’ rather than athletes’ perspectives of the process. Thus, our review highlights that our understanding of talent identification remains limited, despite the extensive body of literature available. There is a shortcoming of research involving qualitative methods and a lack of literature emphasising child/youth perspectives. Such studies could supplement our current knowledge through providing insight into children’s experiences of identification and selection (as well as de-selection), and how these processes influence their motivation and interest in sport.

Keywords:

• Children’s sport
• literature review
• association football
• sport participation
• scouting

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank librarian Jette Thise Pedersen from Aalborg University for assisting with the planning and execution of the review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The search documentation that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Danish Ministry of Culture under grant number 885003.