Background: This research explored the experience of footballers who had experienced a sports-related injury and sought psychological and/or counselling support.What interventions did athletes find helpful/not helpful for coping with such an experience?Method: Drawing upon the principles of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and ideography, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to provide insight into the athletes' experiences and their personal perceptions of the injury. Semistructured interviews with six Maltese top-level football players who have sustained and overcome a sports-related injury were used for the collection of data. Findings:The athletes' appraisals of their injury were explored, and their attitudes towards the different forms of support received and the psychological interventions used were identified. Despite the psychological support sought and received on a personal level, the participants suggested that their mental health was often overlooked by their clubs, leaving them with feelings of helplessness and insecurity.Recommendations: Recommendations, which can be adopted to create sports environments that promote athletes' psychological well-being, are presented. These include recruiting professional service providers such as counsellors and sport psychologists within clubs, as well as the promotion of such services to diminish the stigma around athletes' mental health. Since sport psychologists usually focus on sports' performance enhancement, it may be wise for clubs to create transdisciplinary teams, which include other health professionals, such as counsellors, for more in-depth one-to-one counselling related to readiness to play. This suggests the implementation of holistic sport education programmes promoting mental well-being.Recommendations for further research are also discussed.

Background:The study explores male footballers' experiences of Mental Skills Training (MST) -usually carried out by sports psychologists, and counselling (Herzog & Hays, 2012).Method: This research's aim begged a qualitative approach -interpretative phenomenological analysis. Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were used with seven participant-footballers. Findings: Participants faced a number of unique challenges throughout their career and consider support pivotal for their success in the industry. Parental and institutional support were key sources for support. Participants experienced counselling as a safe and reliable space, where the therapeutic relationship extended beyond football-related issues. Participants explained that MST can be self-taught, is a direct hands-on approach, can be practised whilst injured, and a first point of contact with other services and forms of therapeutic support. Views on their expectations of MST and counselling services varied: either compatible and should be delivered by the same person, or different and should delivered separately. Participants identified others' perceptions as possible challenges for footballers accessing MST and counselling. Recommendations: Participants recommended further research with other athletes, with footballers from diverse countries and cultures, with other helping professionals, with leaders, with managers and sponsors of football, and with sports in general. Participants suggested counsellor-training in sport psychology, sports psychologists and counsellors' participation in sporting contexts, and developing working relationships with kindred professions. They also argued for awareness campaigns with the general public and with stakeholders. An amendment to the local national policy should incorporate mental and social well-being of athletes as a priority for sporting institutions.

Submission of an original paper with copyright agreement and authorship responsibility.I (corresponding author) certify that I have participated sufficiently in the conception and design of this work and the analysis of the data (wherever applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it. I believe the manuscript represents valid work. I have reviewed the final version of the manuscript and approve it for publication. Neither has the manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under my authorship been published nor is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in an attachment. Furthermore I attest that I shall produce the data upon which the manuscript is based for examination by the editors or their assignees, if requested.Thanking you.

Submission of an original paper with copyright agreement and authorship responsibility.I (corresponding author) certify that I have participated sufficiently in the conception and design of this work and the analysis of the data (wherever applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it. I believe the manuscript represents valid work. I have reviewed the final version of the manuscript and approve it for publication. Neither has the manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under my authorship been published nor is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in an attachment. Furthermore I attest that I shall produce the data upon which the manuscript is based for examination by the editors or their assignees, if requested.Thanking you.

In Malta, there is an active history of both governmental and non-governmental organisations who strive to organise a variety of sports activities. Often, participation in sport, particularly among young persons, is seen as a means to enhancing participants' emotional self-regulation, self-esteem, and problem-solving capabilities, although it is also used as a crime-prevention strategy particularly in neighbourhoods which are characterised by crime and anti-social behaviour. This paper explores what football players, their coaches, and other officials who accompanied the young participants in an international football tournament, specifically the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Under-17 tournament, believe they derived from this tournament. It also explores the manner in which different teams and cultures portray themselves, and the wider social and cultural influences that are believed to have a bearing on their perceptions. The paper is of particular interest to people who operate in the field of youth tourism since it promotes a greater understanding of the outcomes (personal, social, economic, etc.) that both local and foreign players, participating in a football tournament of international importance perceive as outcomes.