Professional football players experiences of stressors and cognitive appraisals during a premier league season

Work-related stress has been linked with many physical, psychological and behavioural symptoms which if not managed well, can lead to performance decline and poor well-being. The transactional theory of stress and coping has revealed that when individuals encounter stressful situations, they evaluate the situation before considering a coping mechanism to adopt. Previous researchers investigating organisational stressors and related cognitive appraisals in Ghana have primarily ignored the unique experiences of professional athletes in team sports, especially footballers. Therefore, understanding the stress-related experiences of professional footballers will help sport psychologists to design appropriate stress management interventions for coping.