The position of a club in the league and the personality of Wroc?aw football players at the junior and younger junior levels - pilot studies for comparisons with combat sports

Background and Study Aim: We assumed that a better club position in the league is associated with a more desirable personality of young football players. The aim of the research was the knowledge about relationship between a club's position in the league and the personality of Wroclaw football players at the junior and pre-junior level. Material and Methods: Players from Wroclaw (n = 103) of the 1st Lower Silesian Provincial League A1 Junior (U-19) and B1 Younger Junior (U-17) participated in the personality study with the use of the Big Five model. The NEO-FFI Personality Questionnaire was used as the research tool. The research took into account the positions of the clubs in the league understood as the final result of the competition in the 2020/2021 season. The analyses were per-formed with the statistical methods package IBM SPSS Statistics, version 26. The following tests were applied: Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Levene's, ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni corrections. The statistical power analysis was performed using the G*Power program, version 3.1.9.7. Results: Differences in the intensity of neuroticism were noted between the players of the U-19 clubs, with the foot-ballers from the 3rd position showing the highest emotional balance. In the U-17 group, no differences were found between the players of the concerned clubs. No differences were also found between players of the U-19 and U-17 clubs. Conclusions: It was concluded that a better club position in the league is not related to a personality of Wroclaw football players at the junior and youth stages that is preferred by the coaches. The personality traits of young foot-ballers are at similar levels. Therefore, the personality of young people should not be considered as a deter-minant, but as an end goal for the upbringing of football talents. This study was a pilot study and will serve as a material for comparisons with combat sports.