Part of the beauty of football lies in its unpredictability.
Already in the 2026 World Cup, we saw Morocco draw with five-time champions Brazil and Australia overcome the odds by beating Turkey. But few surprises will surpass a Cape Verde team that was ranked 67th at the start of the tournament and drew 0-0 with Spain (many experts' choice for the title).
But what does it mean to decide if a team wins, draws or loses? Of course, the quality of the players and coaching staff matters. And recent advances in sports analytics, including real-time player geolocation metrics, have led to data-driven in-game decisions. Top football teams are increasingly relying on big data and predictive algorithms to gain an advantage.
But sports psychology also plays an important role. And that's where I come in. I am passionate about sports in general and soccer in particular; It's the game I grew up playing in Germany.
Now, as a sports psychologist and director of the Global Sports Leadership Solutions Lab at Drexel University, I study how players and coaches can manage chaos on the court to strategically improve performance and win.
Below, I outline several modern psychological principles that are essential for the 48 teams that will battle it out in Mexico, Canada and the United States during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
5 steps to success in football
Rupture – It is true in all sports, and certainly in modern football, that the winning team will benefit from disrupting its opponent. Disruptive tactics can include brute force tactical fouls, high-speed counterattacks that unbalance the opponent, deceptive set pieces that create organized chaos, high-pressure tactics that force opponents to make mistakes and get under the skin of opposing players.
Disrupting the organization and rhythm of the opposing team is both a mentality and a tactic that can create scoring opportunities. A team that can disrupt an opponent's flow can often reverse a skill disadvantage or demoralize weaker teams.
attentional aptitude – Scoring goals in international football is difficult. A great striker is worth his weight in gold. They not only possess exceptional dribbling and spectacular one-on-one skills, but also a strong “attentional aptitude,” which requires cognitive efficiency and work ethic to put themselves in positions to score.
These players are famous for their “coolness” and their skill on the ball, but it is their psychological intelligence that makes them special. One of the first skills to break under pressure is the ability to concentrate. The goal scorer par excellence does not freeze.
We could call it “nerves of steel,” but that's just a metaphor for how to manage multiple sources of attention simultaneously and efficiently. Forwards such as the Englishman Harry Kane, the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé and the Norwegian Erling Haaland maintain attention control under pressure. They focus on the most important moment and seamlessly switch between tasks.
Controlled mind wandering – Mental distraction is a spontaneous zoning of your immediate environment. In sports, getting distracted is often considered negative because lack of attention at a crucial moment can lead to disaster. But it's hard to stay focused for more than 90 minutes during a soccer game. And new neuroimaging evidence suggests that in moments of wandering, the brain is not at rest at all. Rather, it is simply a matter of processing information differently.
As such, controlled mental distraction, which involves active mental scanning, can be very beneficial in high-performance sports, even if only for a few seconds. The best players seem to know when to focus and when to back off. Sometimes they take their eyes off the ball and absorb a broader perspective of the game. Then, when a crucial scoring opportunity arises in the game, they focus and are 100% present.
When researchers examined where Argentine great Lionel Messi looks, they discovered that his eyes are often off the ball. Common sense in football has been to keep your eyes on the ball, but new research suggests that the winner will also distract and look away from the action. Messi's brain can apparently do things that many of his opponents cannot; appears to have world-class cognitive abilities.
Resilience (for referees) – Soccer is one of the most difficult sports to referee. Referees must not only be in excellent physical condition, but must also be able to manage the game emotionally. This has become increasingly difficult as professional players routinely simulate injuries and an offside rule that is interpreted to within fractions of an inch.
And then there is one of the most difficult and controversial cognitive decisions in all of sports: the penalty kick, awarded for committing a foul in one's own penalty area.
With so much at stake and everyone watching, the modern World Cup referee must have exceptional multitasking, communication and management skills. Referees are part of the fabric of the game, whether they want it or not. Everyone judges them, even more so in 2026, since the referees wear cameras on their temples, so that the public can see the match from their point of view. The psychological toolbox of the 2026 World Cup referee is complex, but it must begin with a good dose of psychological resilience.
Tactical creativity – Tactical creativity in football is related to the search for solutions on the field to complex individual or team situations. It is almost always based on divergent thinking and is usually surprising and original. Research has shown that creativity is within everyone's reach, including soccer players, especially if tactical creativity has been part of the training plan. As a result, the evolution of playing styles in elite football over recent decades has moved away from a structured, possession-based, defense-heavy system towards a modern, data-driven way of playing based on pressuring the opposing team high up the pitch. This requires players to take on multiple roles on the field. It requires a balance between inspiration (or open-mindedness) and perspiration or discipline.
About the author
Eric Zillmer is a professor of Neuropsychology at Drexel University. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Of course, to be creative you have to have the freedom to experiment; “Play like children,” suggested American coach Mauricio Pochettino. Tactical creativity is a key factor in the cognitive skill set that allows players like Croatia's Luka Modrić and Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne to see multiple moves ahead. These modern football stars not only play football on a different level, but they also think about football on a different level.
Now that the World Cup is underway, sports psychologists like me – along with fans around the world – can watch athletes put some of these principles into practice. And with a little luck, the tournament will have surprising moments of creativity that will be remembered for a lifetime.
