Comparison of nutrition knowledge of professional and amateur male's football team players

With this research, the difference between the knowledge levels of professional and amateur football players was examined and the importance of correct nutrition knowledge of athletes was emphasized. The nutritional knowledge levels of the male athletes were determined with a questionnaire study and the differences between them were compared. The research is a study in which quantitative research methods are used because it includes the processes of analyzing the data collected by the scale study on the nutritional knowledge and personality traits of male amateur and professional football players aged 18-21. In the study, the relational scanning model, which is the research model aiming to determine the degree of change between two or more variables, was used. In addition, the causal comparison method of the scanning model, which aims to determine the causes of an existing or naturally occurring situation or event, and the variables affecting these reasons or the results of an effect, was also used. The population of the 18-21 age group living in Istanbul, Turkey. Research is composed of male players of amateur and professional sports clubs. Male students aged 18-21, who play football in four different sports clubs from the universe, were selected as a sample using the simple random sampling method and the data of 100 people were analyzed for this study. "Sports Nutrition Information Scale" applied to the athletes participating in the study was developed by Trakman (2017). The validity and reliability study of the Turkish form of the questionnaire was conducted by Çakıroğlu and Çırak (2019). The research data were obtained by translated "The Nutrition for Sport Knowledge Questionnaire" (NSKQ) scale into Turkish. The scale applied to the participants consists of 89 items: Weight Control (13 statements), macro nutrients (30 statements), micronutrients (13 statements), sports nutrition (13 statements), supplements (12 statements), alcohol (8 statements). Includes size. The data obtained in the research were analyzed using the SPSS 24 program. Because the data set did not conform to normal distribution, non-parametric methods "Kruskal-Wallis" and "Mann-Whitney U" tests were used for intergroup comparisons. In the study, no significant difference was found between the nutritional knowledge level of amateur and professional football players (p> 0.05). Nutrition knowledge level of the athletes was found to be poor according to the total and sub-dimension scores of the scale. According to the weight control sub-dimension, the value of male amateur football players (0.94) is significantly higher than that of male professional football players (0.76). As a result, it has been observed that both amateur and professional football players have deficiencies and problems in sports nutrition. It is very important for professional and amateur football players to increase their nutritional knowledge and to be more conscious of the athlete and to gain efficiency from the athlete's performance. In this direction, clubs that achieve success in their goals should receive support from professionals with a multidisciplinary working discipline. Footballers and coaches should attend seminars and courses on nutrition, receive training from experts and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team. Considering the effects of nutrition on performance, amateur and professional clubs should pay more attention to sports nutrition and support dietitians who are specialized in this field.