Comparison of IQ, EI, Sports Performance, and Psychological Characteristics of Young Male Soccer Players in Different Playing Positions

Background. Soccer is a popular sport with a large number of players all over the world. Besides, it has considerable economic and social effects. Thus, it is necessary to find out the factors which influence soccer players’ performance. Objectives. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether there is a significant correlation between intellectual intelligence (I.Q) (Raven’s progressive matrices) and emotional intelligence (EI) (Bar-On emotional intelligence scale) with the performance (Charbonneau sports performance questionnaire), and assess the psychological characteristics of young male soccer players in different playing positions and the descriptive method with a correlation technique was used. Methods. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for questions analysis and One-way ANOVA was used for testing the hypothesizes. 120 young Iranian male soccer players aged 17-19 from different soccer schools participated in the study. The players were divided into four playing positions: forwards, midfielders, defenders, and goalkeepers. Results. The obtained data revealed a positive linear correlation between soccer players’ IQ, EQ, and sports performance. Also, significant differences were observed between Bar-On subscale scores of the players in different playing positions. Conclusion. The obtained outcomes reinforce the hypothesis that positional differences in terms of psychological characteristics exist. In addition, it might be concluded that young soccer players might be differentiated by their psychological skills and their playing positions.