Talent Constructions in German and Swedish Academy Football: A Discourse-Theoretical Approach

Abstract

Employing Discourse-Theoretical Analysis coined by Laclau and Mouffe, this multi-case study examines how talent is constructed in elite youth football academies in Sweden and Germany. Based on an analysis of sixteen semi-structured interviews with coaches, scouts and sporting directors, the study identified both distinctive and overlapping patterns, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of how discursive practices shape, reinforce, and challenge conceptions of (football) talent. These dynamics are evident in the construction of the constitutive other, the repetition and reinforcement of hegemonic beliefs and power structures. The study underscores how talent functions as an empty signifier rather than a fixed or universally agreed-upon concept, which is continuously (re)negotiated through discursive struggles and marked by power and exclusion. Moreover, and with discourse-theoretical analysis being a valuable yet underutilize approach within research on communication and sport, the study also expands the theoretical and methodological scope of the field by offering a novel perspective. While offering nuanced insights into how talent is constructed and communicated, this post-structuralist study should be viewed as a context-sensitive interpretation of two specific settings, rather than a universally generalizable account.