Group cohesion in soccer teams: a multi-cultural perspective

Marcin Sobczyk , Joanna Janas , Adam Sobolewski , Dariusz Parzelski

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of group cohesion in collegiate and professional soccer teams. The aim of the study was to look at team cohesion from a multicultural perspective, comparing Polish and British collegiate soccer players. What is more, the authors were interested whether the level of competition may differentiate collegiate athletes from professional athletes in terms of group cohesion. There were 108 male participants in the study. These included: 59 Polish collegiate soccer players from 6 different five-a-side teams, 24 British collegiate soccer players from 3 different five-a-side teams, and 25 Polish professional soccer players from one top division team. Each participant completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Widmeyer, Brawley & Carron 1985]. The results have revealed that Polish collegiate soccer players show higher levels of task cohesion than their British colleagues. The results for social cohesion appeared to be the opposite. Further, there were no statistically significant differences between the Polish collegiate and professional soccer players in terms of general group cohesion.