Background Visual attention is critical in team sports, and multiple object tracking (MOT) task is a well-established experimental method for assessing it. This study aims to use a visual tracking task based on a soccer game video to compare the impact of different numbers of targets on the visual tracking performance of soccer players and that of non-soccer players. Methods 14 Chinese female soccer players (average age: 20.2±1.6 years) and 20 Chinese female non-soccer players (average age: 20.3±1.4 years) were selected to participate in the video-based MOT task with varying attentional load (four, six, or eight targets). This study examined the difference of dynamic visual attention features between female soccer players and non-players by changing the number of targets. Results A significant main effect of target number on tracking accuracy was identified, with accuracy decreasing as the number of targets increased (p < 0.001). Additionally, group differences were significant (p < 0.001), with female soccer players demonstrating superior accuracy compared to non-players. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between group and target number (p < 0.05), indicating that female soccer players showed better tracking performance compared to non-players across various target quantities (i.e., 4, 6, and 8 targets). Specifically, within the group of female soccer players, tracking accuracy for 4 targets was significantly higher than for 6 and 8 targets (p < 0.05), yet no significant difference was observed between the tracking accuracies for 6 and 8 targets (p > 0.05). Discussion This study examined MOT for the first time using a video-based assessment method. Overall, the results suggest that video-based MOT is a sensitive measure to assess the visual tracking ability of female soccer players. In addition, the effect of expertise in female soccer games was found transferable to attention tasks related to other types of sports games. In order to provide better suggestions on performance in sports games, future research can adopt a more realistic game environment and incorporate motor-cognitive tasks.
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