Objectives Tests of cognitive skills are increasingly used to identify talent in sports such as football, but there is so far little evidence to suggest that those tests are associated with sport-specific cognitive skills and performance. The aim of this study was to establish the degree to which tests of generic cognitive skills are associated with football-specific skill in youth football. Specifically, we (i) established the degree to which tests of generic cognitive skills are associated with sport-specific cognitive skills, and (ii) compared the associations between generic and sport-specific cognitive skills and the playing level of youth footballers. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Youth football players (U11-15; N=110) competing at an elite and sub-elite level conducted two diagnostic tests of generic and one of football-specific cognitive skills. Generic tests were (1) the determination test measuring reactive stress tolerance, and (2) NeurOlympics assessing executive functions and anticipation to produce a Football Intelligence score (FI score). The football-specific test was a 360°-video decision-making test. Multiple regression analyses were used to establish the association between the tests, and logistic regression for their association to playing level (elite vs. sub-elite). Results The generic Football Intelligence score showed a small but significant association with football-specific decision-making when controlling for age (p=0.006). However, football-specific decision-making (Nagelkerke's R2=0.34, p<0.001) had a higher diagnostic validity when predicting the playing level than did the FI score (Nagelkerke's R2=0.13, p<0.001). Conclusions We found a partial relationship between generic and football-specific cognition and that football-specific decision-making better differentiates playing levels than generic cognition. These results contribute to the literature suggesting that sport-specific measures are much better predictors of skill than generic cognitive diagnostics for the purposes of talent identification. Practical Implications • In our sample of U11-15 youth footballers, reactive stress tolerance measured via the determination test is associated neither with football-specific decision-making nor with playing level (i.e., elite vs. sub-elite). • A generic `FI score` assessing executive functions and anticipation could only predict a small amount of variance in sport-specific decision-making performance (4%) beyond that possible by age (26%). • Football-specific decision-making performance has a higher diagnostic validity than cognitive tests using generic stimuli. The addition of these generic tests slightly improves diagnostic validity. This small added benefit should be weighed against the cost and time required. • Practitioners should prioritise sport-specific assessments over generic cognitive tests as these are more directly relevant to performance.
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