Considerably fewer studies investigated the promotion of soccer-specific skills based on psychological and motor learning theories (Williams and Hodges, 2005). Most intervention research on the development of performance factors in soccer is concerned with the players' physical fitness and physiological capabilities (for overviews see Bujalance-Moreno et al., 2018 Zouhal et al., 2020). While recent systematic reviews document the growing body of knowledge about soccer-specific performance characteristics and talent predictors, less is known on how to promote these factors effectively, reinforcing the call for intervention research (Williams et al., 2020 O'Connor et al., 2021). Knowledge about these and further relevant performance factors is not only important to identify talented players, it is also essential for developing these performance factors systematically through effective practice and coaching. In soccer, these skills specifically encompass perceptual-motor (e.g., technical) and perceptual-cognitive (e.g., tactical) components (Williams et al., 2020). Due to the dynamic and interactive character of team sports games, a plethora of skills is required to act successfully during gameplay. Sport coaches face multiple challenges, one of which is to facilitate athletes' skill acquisition to improve performance (Gould and Mallett, 2021). Overall, the current evidence needs to be extended by theory-driven, high-quality studies within controlled experimental designs to allow more consolidated and evidence-based recommendations for coaches' work. In the light of the large methodological heterogeneity of the included studies (e.g., outcomes or control groups' practice activities), the presented results need to be interpreted by taking the respective intervention characteristics into account. Nevertheless, “traditional” repetition-based approaches also achieved improvements with respect to players' technical outcomes, yet, their impact on match-play performance remains widely unexplored. The quantitative synthesis of results revealed empirical support for the effectiveness of coaching methodologies aiming at encouraging players' self-exploration within representative scenarios to promote technical and tactical skills. Based on these assessments, the included research was of moderate quality, however, with large differences across individual studies. The Downs and Black checklist and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication were applied to assess the quality in reporting, risk of bias, and the quality of interventions' description. Another seventeen studies, most of them not grounded within a theoretical framework, examined specific aspects of practice task design or coaches' instructions. These studies were classified into the following two groups: Eighteen studies investigated the theory-driven instructional approaches Differential Learning, Teaching Games for Understanding, and Non-linear Pedagogy. Finally, 34 eligible articles, comprising of 35 individual studies, were identified and reviewed regarding their theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches and quality, as well as the interventions' effectiveness. The systematic search yielded 8,295 distinct hits which underwent an independent screening process. A systematic search was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines across the databases SPORTDiscus, PsycInfo, MEDLINE, and Web of Science to identify soccer-specific intervention studies conducted in applied experimental settings (search date: 22 nd November 2020). This systematic review aimed at accumulating empirical knowledge on the influence of practice design and coaching behavior on perceptual-motor and perceptual-cognitive skill acquisition in soccer. Facilitating players' skill acquisition is a major challenge within sport coaches' work which should be supported by evidence-based recommendations outlining the most effective practice and coaching methods.
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