Description
Flexible and unexpected solutions seem of outstanding relevance for success in high performance sport and a mayor factor in talent development and talent selection programms. However, the influence of creativity or more precisely the level of creativity of the actions leading to a goal has not been explored empirically in official Soccer matches yet. This study investigated the level of creativity of goals scored in football. Therefore, all goals in the Football FIFA World Cup 2010 and 2014, as well as the Football UEFA Euro 2016, were qualitatively examined. Three Football experts evaluated the last eight actions before each goal using a creativity scale ranging from 0 to 10 (0 = not creative, 10 = highly creative) of all goals scored via open play (311 goals in 153 matches). Level of creativity was revealed using an Analysis of Variance and the frequency of high highly creative goals using a Kruskall- Wallis Test. The results showed that the closer the actions to a goal, the more creative they were evaluated. Teams that advanced to the later rounds of the tournament demonstrated greater creativity than teams that failed to do so. High creativity in the last two actions before the actual shot on goal proved to be the best predictor for game success. Inconclusion, this study is the first to show that creativity seems to be a factor for success in high level football. Thereby it provides an empirical basis for the ongoing debate on the importance of creativity training in football.| Period | 13-Apr-2018 |
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| Event title | Science and Engineering Conference on Sports Innovation: How technology can be used to optimize performance in sport, rehabilitation and healthy ageing |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 3 |
| Location | Groningen, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |