Investigation of athlete burnout of professional male football players in terms of the location and some variables

Introduction and Purpose: Burnout is a popular term for a state of mental and physical energy depletion that develops after chronic work-related stresses that remain unchanged, sometimes characterized by physical ailments. Sport, which is known as the prerequisite of a healthy life today, emerges as an important social interest area that is loved by millions of people for both sportive performance and lifelong sport in various branches. The aim of this study is to examine the burnout status of male football players who play football in Turkish professional football leagues. Another aim of the study was to raise awareness about the burnout syndrome in the sports field and to raise awareness of the football players, who are the individuals most exposed to this situation in the football sector. In addition, in the study, it was aimed to reveal the relationship between the positional burnout of professional male football players and some demographic variables. Material and Method: The sample of the study consists of 13 professional men's football clubs competing in the 3rd League, 2nd League A, 2nd League B, 1st League and Super League levels in the Turkish Football Federation during the 2020-2021 season. The prepared scales were sent to 178 professional male football players in the clubs via social media and e-mail. Whereas 48 questionnaires were excluded from the study due to reasons such as the inability to contact some of the players, the indiscriminate filling of the forms and the invalidation of the questionnaires, the analysis stage was started with 130 valid questionnaires. "Personal Information Form" consisting of 7 questions prepared by the researcher and "Athlete Burnout Scale" for athlete burnout levels consisting of 13 items and 3 sub-dimensions were applied to the participants. Findings: The findings of the study showed that the athlete burnout levels of the football players were low in the Emotional Physical Burnout and Depersonalization sub-dimensions, while it was high in the Decreased Sense of Success sub-dimension. Statistically significant difference was found only in the Depersonalization sub-dimension in the variable of desire to change the position played. This difference was determined to be in favor of those who said Undecided between those saying Undecided and saying Yes. According to the Year of Professionalism data, a low-level, negative and statistically significant relationship was found in the Emotional-Physical Burnout sub-dimension, while a negative-insignificant relationship was determined between the Decreased Sense of Success and Depersonalization sub-dimensions. Conclusion: When the results of the burnout levels of the professional football players working in the Turkish leagues were examined, it was determined that there was no significant difference between any position, that the burnout levels of the athletes were at low levels, and that the burnout levels decreased with the increase in the age and professional year variables. Key words: Sports, Football, Athlete Burnout,