Many languages, one team: perceived effects of multilingual communication on group cohesion and tactical advantages in male youth soccer in Toronto

We examine whether multilingual communication is perceived to be effective for group cohesion and tactical advantages by youth and adolescent soccer (often referred to as football outside of Canada and the United States) athletes (10–18 years old) and their coaches. Specifically, we explore if there are differences in such perceived effectiveness when coaches interact with other coaches vs. when they interact with the athletes they train, and similarly, when athletes interact with other teammates vs. with their coaches. Participants (n = 102) were asked to rate how effective they believed multilingual communication to be in fostering group cohesion and tactical advantages. Regarding group cohesion, statistical analyses showed that both coaches and athletes found multilingual communication to have a significantly stronger effect when interacting with others ‘of their same rank’ (i.e. coaches-to-coaches and athletes-to-athletes) compared to when interacting with their subordinates (coaches-to-athletes) or superiors (athletes-to-coaches). These patterns did not emerge when participants rated the effectiveness of multilingual communication on tactical advantages. Adding to previous research reporting that multilingualism offers numerous benefits in professional soccer, our findings demonstrate that multilingual communication influences group cohesion at the youth/adolescent levels, but is sensitive to power dynamics within the team's speech community.