Leadership in Elite Football: A Case Study of Leadership Characteristics in a Men’s Football National Team

Since little leadership research has been conducted in elite national team environments, this study explored the types of leadership characteristics found in a men’s national football team. The research question was: What leadership characteristics describe a men’s national football team? Our data comprised 182 pages of transcripts of interviews with five coaches and two players from a men’s national team. Reflexive thematic analysis with a deductive approach yielded three themes: 1) coach leadership, 2) athlete leadership, and 3) shared leadership. These key themes suggest that a national team’s leadership is built on interactivity. The team’s leadership structure was characterized by the coaching staff and players having clear roles while leaving space for informal leaders to emerge as needed. The coaches highlighted the captain’s role in bearing the primary responsibility for representing the players’ voices in decision-making. Our interview data indicated that the characteristics that distinguish an excellent athlete leader from a good one were an unselfish personality, excellent social skills, and the ability to inspire others.