Team Culture in Soccer

Culture: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.

Philosophy:  a set of ideas about how to do something.

The culture of a particular team will be reflective of it's leadership. A coach's philosophy will go a long ways toward determining the team's culture. Player leadership will also impact a teams culture. Great team culture sees player leadership buy into the coach's philosophy.

Establishing a productive team culture is so important I write about it often.  Most recently I authored the article Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast based on a quote I found on Twitter.  The title says it all. We have all seen teams with great talent lose to "inferior" teams with great culture.

Every team has a culture be it great, good, indifferent or toxic. 

Just think about that for a minute.

A great culture enhances and magnifies a teams technical, tactical, physical and psychological abilities. Perhaps most importantly a great team culture manifests itself as passion to participate with teammates and play the game together as many working towards a common goal.

The foundation of great team culture is Honesty.

A soccer team is a group of people who develop, nurture and grow relationships based around a common interest - soccer. Trust is the foundational principle that holds all relationships together. Trust is dependent on honesty, on truth, to exist. Trust is the glue of life, the most essential ingredient in effective communication. Healthy relationships are all about effective communication.

Belief takes root in the ground prepared by Truth and Trust.  When a team believes, when a team buys in to the coach's philosophy, the potential for success increases exponentially.  The momentum created can be palpable. Confidence can be felt exuding from vibrant athletes who are eager to test themselves against opponents. 

When I scout a team the first thing I try to determine is its culture.

When I observe an opponent warming up, the first thing I try to determine is its culture.

Why?

Whatever problems an opposing player, their team or their teams tactics present can be dealt with and solved to the best of our ability.  The opponents culture?  If it is stronger than ours, we will face a difficult battle because there is virtually nothing we can do to counteract an opposing teams strong culture. We must match or exceed the opponents team culture.  This being the case, it is of utmost importance to establish a strong team culture and intentionally work on strengthening it every day.