Determination of Football Academy Coaches' Attitudes and Thoughts Towards Match Analysis in Football

This study aimed to determine the attitudes and opinions of football academy coaches towards match analysis in football and assess if these vary based on demographic variables. Using a descriptive survey method, data were collected from 210 football academy coaches participating in training in Istanbul during the 2022-2023 season. The study included coaches from 21 clubs in the Spor Toto Super League and Spor Toto 1st League, within the Turkish Football Federation's Football Academies Project.No sampling was used; instead, the entire population was targeted with voluntary participation, resulting in 112 respondents. Data were collected using the Football Specific Match Analysis Scale by Gürkan et al. (2023). Due to non-normal distribution of data, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance were employed for statistical analysis, with significance set at 0.05.Findings revealed that technology use in football, specifically match analysis, is seen as highly beneficial by coaches. Match analysis was considered significantly important and contributive to their development. Coaches generally rated match analysis as "very high" in importance and contribution to player development. It was also found that:Younger coaches and those with less experience in the academy league rated match analysis more positively.Coaches with higher education levels and higher monthly incomes were more likely to value match analysis highly.Differences in attitudes and opinions were significant across age groups, tenure in the academy, education levels, and income brackets.These results indicate the growing importance of match analysis in football training and development, influenced by demographic factors.Keywords: Academy, Football, Football Academy Coach, Match Analysis.