Elite Norwegian soccer players report less competitive anxiety than amateurs in an NTNU survey

Norway's goalkeeper Orjan Nyland misjudged a pass to the feet of a Portuguese striker, who chipped the ball into an empty net, and Norway lost the match ^[10]. The error drew a media backlash, with calls for him to be dropped from upcoming internationals ^[17]. "I found it fascinating how calm Nyland appeared in his postgame interview after such an important match," said Magnus Ueland Nygaard, a clinical psychologist and coauthor of the study ^[11]. "Nyland addressed the fact that mistakes happen, that they are part of soccer. And if you dwell on them too much, you'll be preoccupied with them," he said ^[12].

Nygaard is careful with the anecdote. "Of course, we do not know exactly what is happening inside the player's mind. However, Nyland's reaction in the interview might be reflective of both the team's support system and the psychological resilience he has gained from a long career," he said ^[13].

The survey needs the same care. Run with NTNU professor Audun Havnen, it compared elite with amateur players and men with women ^[16]. The elite-amateur gap runs opposite to the scrutiny each group faces ^[1], and the authors suggest greater experience with pressure as a possible reason ^[20]. The comparison is between different people at different levels ^[16]. It cannot separate two stories: playing at the top teaches calm, or calmer players are the ones who get there and stay. The age result has the same problem ^[6]. Anxious players who quit young never make it into the older group.

Metacognitive beliefs are the study's distinctive variable ^[3]. Sports psychology mostly works on negative expectations such as "I might fail," and has looked relatively little at players who worry about their own thinking or slide into poor coping habits ^[9]. "Some aspects of the metacognitive therapy framework are employed in sports psychology settings," Nygaard said, citing attentional training and detached mindfulness ^[14]. "But the aim is more often to improve performance rather than reduce or address the symptoms of psychological disorders," he said ^[15].

The sample is thin for some of the splits it carries. The female share works out to about 35 of the 150 players ^[19]. The published summary does not report effect sizes or how many of the players competed at elite level.

Anxiety matters for results. Earlier studies found it hurts performance, and it is reported as the biggest contributor to underperformance in soccer ^[8]. The elite result fits the idea that how a player handles mistakes matters more than how much pressure surrounds them, but a survey comparing separate groups cannot establish that ordering. I think the finding justifies trials of metacognitive training with amateur and youth players; whether such training lowers their anxiety is a question this design cannot answer.