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Article History

Accepted: 8 October 2024

First Online: 3 November 2024

Declarations

:

: This study was dually funded by Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and Science in Sport (plc).

: James P Morton is consultant to Science in Sport (plc). Other authors declare no conflict of interest.

: Verbal and written informed consent was obtained from the players after receiving a detailed explanation of the project, and ethical approval was granted through Liverpool John Moores University Ethics Committee (23/SPS/032). The study complied with the Declaration of Helsinki, apart from registration in a publicly accessible database.

: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

: The manuscript has no associated data.

: W.L.F., J.P.M. and C.J.C. conceived the idea for the project. W.L.F. prepared the initial design draft. J.P.M. and C.J.C. reviewed and provided feedback on the initial design and W.L.F. worked on various versions until a final protocol was developed. W.L.F. conducted the interviews. W.L.F. performed the initial thematic analysis and subsequently reviewed by C.J.C. and J.P.M. W.L.F., C.J.C. and J.P.M. collaborated to define the themes. W.L.F. drafted the first version of a manuscript, all authors (W.L.F., E.T., G.L.C., C.J.C. and J.P.M.) provided input into this first version. Thereafter, W.L.F., C.J.C. and J.P.M. worked on four drafts of a manuscript. Draft five was reviewed by all authors, who were involved until the final manuscript was submitted. All authors read and approved the final version.