THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN FOOTBALL: A STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Abstract

Sport psychology is a sub-area of ​​psychology, which aims at the study, consultation and explanation of the psychological influences on individuals and groups in sports, recreational, competitive and alike. It applies to various sports, including football. This work aimed to investigate, through a bibliographic review, the importance of psychology in the performance of professional soccer players and to review bibliometric studies in the field of sport psychology with an emphasis on soccer psychology. For this, a bibliographic and bibliometric review was carried out from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. Based on the reviews, it was possible to identify the importance of psychology in the players' performance, highlighting the need for studies on behaviors, emotions and reactions to better understand the role of thinking on the field.