Emotions are integral to sport coaching, influencing emotional labour, burnout risk, turnover intentions, and the quality of coach–athlete interactions as coaches navigate challenges from training design and in-game decisions to interpersonal conflicts and stakeholder pressures. This study aimed to critically review literature on Emotional Intelligence (EI), definitions, conceptual models, and applications, in sport and team‐sport coaching, with a specific focus on how EI is understood and applied within football coaching. Using the PRISMA guidelines, six databases were searched for relevant studies on the relationship between EI and sport coaching, EI and team sport, and EI and football. Despite indications that factors such as gender, qualifications, playing experience, and athlete development phase may influence football coaches’ emotional intelligence, the paucity and inconsistency of existing studies preclude definitive conclusions and underscore the need for more rigorous research to guide targeted coach education and development.
Ding et al. (Sat,) studied this question.