Urgent Need for Mental Health Support in Football: From Lower Leagues to the Pros
Stepping out of my comfort zone, both in life and in my work across football in Europe, the last five years have taught me several lessons—but the most striking, and perhaps the most shocking, is how mental health is often sidelined in professional sports.
In football, particularly the professional competition here in Europe, most of us know that the pressure to succeed is intense. However, for young players chasing their dreams of turning pro, this pressure can feel overwhelming.
Over the past five years, alongside my colleague and professional footballer Andréa, I’ve conducted hundreds of in-depth, often challenging interviews across three continents, witnessing firsthand how teenage boys striving to break into the sport are pushed to their limits. They’re asked to give everything, yet when their dreams don’t pan out, they’re thrown onto the proverbial trash heap while the impact on their mental health is ignored.
Most football institutions around the world grossly underestimate how deeply these failures affect young athletes particularly in the lower leagues. For many, the support system they desperately need is missing.
A 2019 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that elite athletes are up to two times more likely to experience mental health disorders than the general population, including anxiety, depression, and burnout. And the numbers are alarming. According to another 2020 study, 38% of professional footballers showed signs of anxiety or depression. Across all professional sports, that number jumps to 45%. These statistics are a stark reminder that this issue is pervasive and needs addressing at every level.
But when these young kids, and in several instances professional footballers already embedded within the system, are released by a club or academy, they are expected to cope with failure. Alone. No guidance. No resources. Just ask any free agent stranded in a foreign country.
Jeremy Wisten’s tragic case in 2020 serves as a painful reminder of what happens when young players are left without support after being released from clubs. His story highlights the urgent need for better mental health care in football. The final verdict from the media was that "Manchester City did not give 'right support' to teenager, inquest told"
Over the last decade, I’ve seen talented individuals—some of the most hard working and ambitious young athletes —fall through the cracks when they’ve been dropped, rejected or have had to take a forced break from the sport due to injury. We need to make sure the next generation is supported mentally, at all costs. The pressure to perform can break even the strongest.
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If we ignore their mental health, we risk losing them long before their careers end.
Today, there are roughly 250 million active participants in the sport. Football needs to step up and take the lead across all sports.
So, what’s the solution? Clubs need to prioritise mental health as much as physical health. Every club, from grassroots to the top-tier leagues, should have psychologists on staff. Regular check-ins should be as routine as fitness tests. Players shouldn’t have to ask for help—it should be offered.
Until this is fixed on a global level, football has just earned its first metaphorical red card.
(It's important at this point to recognise the invaluable contributions of support groups like the International Society for Sport Psychiatry (ISSP), Athletes for Hope, and the Sporting Chance Clinic, which have played a significant role in supporting athletes' mental health.)
Listen to a first-hand perspective here: https://lnkd.in/dx4x9dYJ