Abstract
Soccer support staff operate under demanding schedules and high-performance environments while guiding players’ movement, sleep, and nutrition; however, their own lifestyle behaviours remain under-researched. This exploratory study assessed adherence to the Canadian 24-Hour Movement (24HM) guidelines and its association with diet quality (DQ) in professional and semi-professional soccer support staff. Methods: A cross-sectional survey collected data from 236 staff in the United Kingdom and Spain. Movement behaviours were measured using the Whole Day Matters Toolkit and DQ using the validated Mini-EAT questionnaire. A graded 24HM score (0–8) summed binary adherence across four general (MVPA, LPA, sedentary time, sleep) and four secondary (muscle-strengthening, sedentary interruptions, screen time, sleep–wake time) behaviours. Associations with DQ were estimated using adjusted multiple linear regression. Results: Only 7.6% of participants met all eight guidelines. Each one-point increase in the graded score was associated with 0.89-point higher DQ (95% CI 0.29–1.49, p = 0.004), with stronger associations observed for secondary behaviours (β = 1.27, p = 0.006) than for general behaviours (β = 0.38, p = 0.50). Conclusions: A graded 24HM scoring approach showed a graded association with DQ in soccer staff, with secondary movement behaviours showing a stronger association. All findings should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06771752.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 224 |
| Journal | Sports |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2026 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- cross-sectional study
- football staff
- lifestyle behaviours
- multidisciplinary teams
- nutrition
- physical activity
- sedentary behaviour
- sleep
- workplace health
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