Summary:
The aim of this writing is to explore possible differences in cognitive functions and IQ between football (soccer) players of different skill level, as well as potential improved effects on those functions due to training on or off the football field.
Article search for literature review was conducted from 1/1/2014 till /15/5/2024 with platforms Scopus, Pub Med, Web of Science και Google Scholar, applying search terms like soccer cognitive training, soccer IQ, cognitive functions in football and other alternative ones. Articles of 24 authors for differences in cognitive functions between high and low skilled football players were reviewed, as well as 60 articles without such skill ranking, according to the aims of this writing.
Based on results, it appears that 70% of researchers found significant differences in cognitive functions between high and low skilled football players, whereas 30% not. Moreover, it seems that 80% of authors found significant differences in cognitive functions between footballers without ranked skill, while 20% not.
In conclusion, it is confirmed that better cognitive functions are possessed by high skilled football players, as well as it can be reasonably deduced that cognitive functions can be improved with training interventions. Furthermore, football players with better IQ have better football performance indexes. Among cognitive functions, inhibition explains better the variance in football performance.
