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Article History

Accepted: 4 February 2026

First Online: 8 March 2026

Declarations

:

: James P. Morton is a consultant to Science in Sport Limited. Graeme L. Close is a past and present consultant to several English Premier League soccer clubs, a current consultant to Nutrition X and a previous consultant to Gatorade Sport Science Institute. Wee Lun Foo and Colum J. Cronin have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article.

: Verbal and written informed consent was obtained from the players after receiving a detailed explanation of the project and ethics 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.

: Not applicable.

: Not applicable.

: Not applicable.

: WLF, JPM and CJC conceived the idea for the project. WLF prepared the initial design draft. JPM and CJC reviewed and provided feedback on the initial design and WLF worked on various versions until a final protocol was developed. WLF conducted the interviews. WLF performed the initial thematic analysis and this was subsequently reviewed by CJC and JPM. WLF, CJC and JPM collaborated to define the themes. WLF drafted the first version of a manuscript, all authors (WLF, GLC, CJC and JPM) provided input into this first version. Thereafter, WLF, CJC and JPM 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.