Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Journal of Sports Sciences
For a Special Issue on
Soccer Psychology Today: Challenges, Discoveries, and Applications
Abstract deadline
Manuscript deadline
Special Issue Editor(s)
Darko Jekauc,
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
[email protected]
Itay Basevitch,
Barry University
[email protected]
Lena Steindorf,
TSG-ResearchLab
[email protected]
Daniel Memmert,
German Sport University Cologne
[email protected]
Soccer Psychology Today: Challenges, Discoveries, and Applications
Soccer is the world’s most widely played and followed sport and represents a highly demanding psychological environment. Its continuous flow, rapidly changing tactical situations, complex team structures, and intense public and media attention create unique conditions for studying human performance, decision-making, and development in sport.
This Special Issue aims to advance theoretical and applied understanding of psychological processes in soccer by bringing together high-quality empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions. Submissions should connect fundamental psychological constructs with the specific demands of soccer performance and development.
Topics of interest include:
- decision-making and perceptual-cognitive expertise in dynamic match environments
- mental skills, emotion regulation, and performance under pressure
- team processes such as cohesion, communication, and collective efficacy
- coaching, leadership, and referee psychology
- talent development and youth pathways in soccer
- integration of emerging technologies (e.g., performance analytics, GPS, psychophysiological assessment)
- interdisciplinary approaches linking psychology with performance analysis, coaching science, and health
- crises in soccer
Submissions focusing on women’s soccer, as well as studies using female-only or mixed samples, are particularly encouraged in order to address the gender data gap and reflect the growing global relevance of women’s football.
This Special Issue seeks to provide an integrative platform for interdisciplinary research that advances both theory and practice in sport and exercise psychology.
Submission Instructions
Submissions to this Special Issue should include original empirical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and theoretical or methodological contributions relevant to psychological processes in soccer.
Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Journal of Sports Sciences author guidelines, including formatting, structure, and referencing style.
When submitting via the journal’s submission system, authors must select the option corresponding to the Special Issue title “Soccer Psychology Today: Challenges, Discoveries, and Applications” to ensure correct allocation.
All submissions will undergo a rigorous double-anonymized peer-review process involving at least two independent reviewers. Authors may be invited to revise their manuscripts based on reviewer feedback.
The expected timeline includes an initial review phase, followed by revisions and a second round of review if required. Accepted articles will be published online first and subsequently included in the Special Issue.