The relationship between visual scanning behavior and positional actions of football players

This thesis aims to evaluate the effects of visual scanning on football player performance by examining the relationship between visual scanning behaviors and positional actions in football players. Three midfielders of a football team competing in the Turkish Super League and European Cups were examined within the scope of the research. The findings revealed that visual scanning behaviors provided positive effects on the basic technical elements of football such as pass accuracy, dribbling success and deep passing action. The results of the research showed that especially midfield players were more effective in offense by increasing their environmental awareness with a 360-degree view. Thanks to visual scanning, these players exhibited more successful performance in analyzing the opponent defense and transferring passes to their teammates in appropriate positions. The limitations of the research limit the generalization of the findings since the analyses were conducted with only a certain group of players. However, the study emphasizes the importance of visual scanning behaviors on football performance and provides a basis for more comprehensive research in this area. In order to determine whether the data showed normal distribution, normality tests were applied for both Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk and skewness and kurtosis values. It was considered that the distribution was normal if the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk values were less than 0.05 and the skewness and kurtosis values were between ± 1.5. Descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the analysis of the data. Frequency distribution was used in the analysis of the data in the study. T-test and ANOVA tests were used in the comparison of the data. The statistical significance level was taken as p<0.05. As a result, visual scanning behaviors are considered as an indispensable skill in terms of fast decision-making and strategic applications required by modern football. Therefore, it is predicted that training programs aimed at developing visual scanning skills will play a critical role in increasing the individual and team performances of football players. Keywords: Deep pass, Visual scanning behavior, Midfielders, Pass accuracy, Positional actions