Football players' perceptions of their coaches on different levels

Knowledge of athletes' perceptions of their coaches and the traits athletes value are important steps in optimising coach-player relationships. The objective of this study is to characterise high-level football players' (amateurs and Portuguese Football League) perceptions of their coaches. The Portuguese version of Meford's Player Coach Interaction Inventory (Medford and Thorpe, 1986) was applied to 195 football players in all. The results show a positive image of coaches and no significant differences were found between groups according to level of play, except in the trait entitled "with constant capacity". The most highly valued traits are associated with the personal qualities factor (sincerity, self-confidence, honesty, intelligence and motivating) and those least valued were associated with the leadership factor (expertise, dynamism, experience, example and a range of capacities).