Premier League sports psychologists attend Football Exchange conference

The Football Exchange, from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, hosted its first ‘Psychology of Football’ conference.

The event, endorsed by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES), was attended by over 120 delegates, including representatives from every English Premier League club, the Scottish Leagues and women’s football, with practitioners travelling from across the UK, Holland, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Portugal, Poland and the US.

Presenters included practitioners from FC Bayern Munich, UCLAN, Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City, Leeds Beckett University and FC Copenhagen.

Dr Mark Nesti from LJMU concluded the conference by reflecting on 30 years of practice as a sport psychologist within Premier League Football.

The conference delegates were asked to share, challenge and reflect on research and practice to help support the development and performance of individuals within professional football at both Academy and first team levels. The 2020 conference is scheduled for 3 September with enquiries to psychologyoffootballconference@ljmu.ac.uk or follow @LJMUFootball
 
Dr Martin Littlewood, Head of the Football Exchange, said: “The event was an overwhelming success and we are delighted at the response from the industry.  The conference was the first of its kind in the UK to bring together practitioners involved in the psychological development and support of people in the professional football industry.  The quality of speakers and delegates was excellent and people left feeling energised and engaged in a high quality professional training and development event that we are looking forward to running again next year."

Caption: Pictured, from left, are Christian Luthardt, Sport Psychologist at FC Bayern Munich, LJMU's Professor Zoe Knowles and Dr Martin Littlewood, Daniel Ransom, Academy Psychologist for Manchester United and Dr Francesca Champ of the University of Central Lancashire.