The personality of a soccer player according to his position on the field.

Is there any correlation between being a goalkeeper, defender or striker and the personality profile?

The king of all games is undoubtedly soccer.

It is a practice as human and significant in our time as few sociological phenomena can be, since it encompasses the different fields of human nature and is capable of summoning the globality of the human being in its different levels of consciousness and expression. Its practice knows no borders since it is practiced in the five continents, making the whole world revolve around the ball.

Soccer: a social... and psychological phenomenon

Both the success and failure of a player comes from a combination of physical, psychological and technical conditional abilities.. For this reason and because of the worldwide relevance of this sport, it is necessary to study these factors that affect the performance of the athlete, positioning the study of the personality of the soccer player as one of the most determining factors for sporting success, being of great utility since it is a territory in which the behaviors will depend more on the personality traits of the players than on their environment.

The personality of soccer players

The knowledge of the soccer player's personality, according to the position he plays could help to improve the team's performance in general, and the player could be selected for each specific position taking into account not only his physical abilities but also his personality traits that will allow a certain player to perform better in one position and not in another.

Defining concepts

But to be able to talk about personality in sport and in soccer in particular, it is necessary to make a general description of this construct that we call personality, it is necessary to make a general description of what is this construct we call personality..

What is personality?

• Personality is a hypothetical constructinferred from the observation of behavior, not being an entity in itself that does not imply value connotations about the person characterized.

• Personality includes a series of elements (traits or internal dispositions), more or less stable over time, which make a person's behavior consistent on different occasions and different from the behavior that other people would show in comparable situations. These personality characteristics of a stable and consistent nature allow us to predict the behavior of individuals.

• Personality also includes other elements (cognitions, motivations, affective states) that influence the determination of behavior and that can explain the lack of consistency and stability of behavior in certain circumstances.

• Behavior will be the result of both the more stable elements (whether psychological or biological) and the more (whether psychological or biological) as well as the aspects more determined by personal (perception of the situation, previous experiences), social or cultural influences. These individual and general traits arise from a complicated combination of both Biological and learned determinants, and ultimately comprise an individual's idiosyncratic pattern of perceiving, feeling, thinking, coping and behaving (Millon, 1990).

Field position (demarcation) and personality: is there a correlation?

One of the fundamental characteristics of this sport is that each player plays a tactical each player plays a tactical position on the field of play.The following four main categories are identified: goalkeepers, goalkeepers with goalkeeperswhose function is to prevent goals from being scored; the forwards, who are strikersto score goals; the defenders defenders to defend the danger zone and the midfielders midfielders who are the ones who strategically handle the ball in the center of the field generating the moves aimed at scoring goals.

These four categories are also characterized by their specific personality styles, according to a series of established according to a series of stable response dispositions that are the traits and that are defined as the global tendencies that each particular player has to emit one or another kind of response that determines his behavior and his characteristic thoughts. That is, each player, depending on his personality traits, would be predisposed to respond in the same or similar way to different types of stimuli.

For this reason, the concern was born not only to know the general profile of the soccer player, but also the individual differences in terms of personality according to the position that each player plays within the field, since this would help the coach to better position him within the field; to take into account the frustration tolerance of his scorers, the goalkeeper's resistance to the pressure of penalties, aggressiveness of the defenders and the emotional stability to see how they influence each other within the same team, etc.

General personality traits of a soccer player

There are individual differences where the practice of sports is related to a certain number of personality traits, especially in traits such as extraversion, emotional stability and responsibility, these being the traits most associated with sports such as soccer, although not the only ones, as we will see below.

• Extraversion, which refers to an active, optimistic, impulsive subject, capable of easily establishing social contacts.

• Emotional stability, which refers to a serene and carefree individual.

• Responsibility, which indicates a tendency to be orderly and achievement-oriented.

Therefore, soccer players at a general level are balanced, extraverted, emotionally stable, dominant, aggressive, competitive and ambitious. They are achievement and team cohesion oriented, active and with few depressive manifestations (Pascual, 1989).

Different investigations also show that the soccer player presents these traits: Affability, Abstraction, Dominance, Animation, Attention to norms, Daring, Sensitivity, Vigilance, Apprehension, Openness to change, Perfectionism and Tenacity. (Guillen-García, 2007).

More attributes and traits of soccer players

Soccer players also possess defensive and adaptive strategies in behavioral terms, which defines them as players characterized by a great ability to perceive situations favorably and with a high attention span, according to Apitzsch (1994).

The image they give to others is of highly narcissistic and egocentric people (Elman and McKelvie, 2003).

They possess high scores on the factors of radicalism, intelligence and control. (O'Connor and Webb, 1976).

Soccer players present themselves as self-sufficient as they tend to seek to build their own future and that this depends only on them, individualistic and supportive, as well as tense, energetic, impatient, restless and reactive. (Marrero, Martin-Albo and Núñez, 2000).

Soccer players define themselves as self-actualized, self-confident and self-assured, seeking satisfaction of their own goals, optimistic, good-humored, socially friendly and have a humanitarian spirit. (Bara, Scipiao and Guillen, 2004).

Soccer players in general belong to the Conformism scale, which indicates that they are conformists with authority, respect it and abide by its rules. (García-Naveira, 2008; Aparicio and Sánchez-López, 2000).

Soccer players in general are dominant, manipulative, aggressive, competitive and ambitious in their social relationships (Apitzsch, 1994; García, 2004 and García-Naveira, 2008).

These players move and act in response to individual interests such as the motivation to improve a personal skill, to be recognized as the best in their position, to be a starter, among others; and group motivations such as winning a cup or championship (Díaz-Morales and García-Naveira, 2001). They are demanding of themselves and brilliant, and keep their self-esteem high so that the environment comforts them.

This indicates that soccer players tend to fulfill their own needs but take others into account when making decisions about group goals.

Although soccer players, being group athletes, are more dependent on their own teammates, they need to turn to others for comfort, they need to turn to others for external stimulation, constantly seeking attention from others.They have a higher level of self-confidence, self-control and social responsibility than individual athletes Bara et al. (2004).

As we have seen, soccer players have a characteristic personality style, but differences are also established according to the location and role of each player on the field (Goalkeeper, Defense, Midfielder and Forward) according to the tactical position they play within the team (Millon 2001).

Differences in the personality of players according to the position they occupy on the field of play

Goalkeepers

They are characterized by their intuition and because their knowledge derives from the concrete, relying more on direct or observable experience than players in other positions. than the players who occupy other positions.

They are players who are very self-confident, believe they are talented, competent and very egocentric.

Goalkeepers are the players most capable of taking risks and are highly dissatisfied with predictable situations..

They are very creative, communicative, dominant and aggressive and are always in constant search of stimulation and attention. They are friendly and bright but also demanding and prefer to satisfy their personal needs first rather than those of others.

2. Midfielders

They are characterized by they are reflective, tend to process knowledge more through logic and analytics and are able to make decisions based on their judgment and their direct and observable experience (intuition). (García Narváez, 2010).

They are the most sympathetic of the team (concordance) and those who establish the strongest emotional bonds with the other players and tend to hide their negative feelings.

They are intuitive, seek the abstract and speculative and make decisions based on their own affective reactions and guided by their personal values.

3. Defenders

They are characterized by being the most intuitive players. They are self-confident and are very competent and talented..

They are players who seek stimulation from others and are motivated to satisfy the needs of others first and not themselves.

They are on the submissive scale, which indicates that they relate to others in a submissive way. they relate submissively to others and conform to the norms held by others..

4. Forward

They are characterized by being the most systematic players. They are predictable, organized, perfectionist and efficient.They are able to adapt new knowledge to the existing ones, looking for safe ways to generate productive plays and stick to them without going too far from the proven pattern. (Perez. M, Navarro. R, Navarro. R, Ruiz. J, Brito. E, Navarro. M. 2004).

They are responsive, dominant and socially aggressive, ambitious and stubborn (control polarity).. These are the players who act more independently and less conformist to the predictable, as well as not abiding by common or traditional norms, taking risks (discrepancy).

Although they are socially sympathetic and establish good bonds with other players and strong loyalties, they are the least motivated to satisfy the demands of others first.

They lean toward the Affectivity scale, which describes them as players who make decisions based on their own affective reactions and guided by their personal values.

By way of conclusion

For all of the above, there is a need for an integrative model that takes into account stable variables over time such as personality traits or styles and other more changeable variables such as goals, motivations, and cognitive styles.

Bibliographical references:

• Apitzsch, E. (1994). The personality of the elite soccer player. Revista de Psicología del Deporte, 6, 89-98.
• García-Naveira, A. (2004). Individual differences in soccer players over time: Personality style and motivation. Bachelor's degree dissertation. Department of Differential Psychology. Faculty of Psychology. Complutense University of Madrid.
• García-Naveira, A. (2007). Study of personality in athletes from the models of Cattell, Eysenk and Costa and McCrae. Cuadernos de psicología del deporte, 8(2),43- 51.
• García-Naveira, A. (2008). Personality style in competitive soccer players and differences according to demarcation. Cuadernos de psicología del deporte, 8 (2), 19-38.
• García-Naveira, A. (2010a). Individual differences in personality styles and performance in athletes. PhD dissertation. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments II. Faculty of Psychology. Complutense University of Madrid.
• Millon, T. (2001). Millon's Personality Styles Inventory. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.