91 www.TSP-Journal.com PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE The Sport Psychologist, 2014, 28, 91-102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/pes.2013-0015 © 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. Larsen is with the Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Bio- mechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Alfermann is with the Institute of Sport Psychology and Sport Pedagogy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. Henriksen is with the Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University Of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Chris- tensen is with the Center for Medical Education, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. Preparing Footballers for the Next Step: An Intervention Program From an Ecological Perspective Carsten H. Larsen Kristoffer Henriksen University of Southern Denmark University Of Southern Denmark Dorothee Alfermann Mette K. Christensen University of Leipzig University of Aarhus The purpose of this article is to present practitioners and applied researchers with speciic details of an ecological-inspired program and intervention in a professional football (soccer) club in Denmark. Based on an ecological agenda, the aim is to reinforce the culture of psychosocial development in the daily practice of a professional football academy, provide the skills required to succeed at the professional level and create stronger relations between the youth and professional departments. The authors suggest six principles as fundamental governing principles to inform an intervention inspired by the holistic ecological perspective. Descriptions of the intervention program and indings are presented in four interconnected steps. Insights are provided into delivery of workshops, the supervision of the coach, on-pitch training, evaluation of the program, and integrating sport psychology as a part of the culture within the club. Keywords: soccer, athletic talent development environment, career transition, elite sport, talent development, consulting About 265 million people regularly play football (i.e., soccer) and football is considered to be one of the most popular sports in the world (Haugaasen & Jordet, 2012). The major professional clubs around the world spend increasing amounts of money on salaries for world- class players and nowadays professional football, includ- ing talent development in youth football, is increasingly characterized by big business, high politics, and profes- sionalization (Persson, 2011; Roderick, 2006). Accord- ing to the Finnish sports sociologist Kalevi Heinilä, the professionalization of sport is the result of the totalization of sport (Heinilä, 1982), which is the fact that success in international competition is a matter of a well-functioning national sport system including coaching expertise, train- ing facilities, and scientiic research (Vettenniemi, 2010). In this process of professionalization and totalization, sport psychological intervention becomes an important factor as a way to optimize the performance of a team or an athlete. Danish football is also part of the increased professionalization and totalization of sports (Persson, 2011), but the majority of Danish football clubs are not able to buy enough foreign professional players for their irst team. Therefore, Danish clubs put their faith and efforts in talent development and the predominant aim of youth development programs is to develop players for the irst team. Therefore, the clubs depend on the possibility of making a proit with sales to other clubs in an international market, and in this way young players and their successful transition to the senior professional level are a necessary resource for the professional depart- ment and the economy of the club. In this article we will present sport psychology practitioners and applied researchers with details of an intervention program in a Danish professional football club, which is inspired by the ecological perspectives emerging in recent sport psychology literature. The intervention aims to facilitate the players’ transition from talented youth level to the professional level. The transition from talented youth level to profes- sional level is considered to be the most dificult and complex transition in sports (Stambulova, 2009). Accord- ingly, research illuminates that the path to the professional ranks is growing harder each day and expectations and demands are high. As an example, it has been demon- strated that of 265 million footballers across the world only 0.04% play in a professional league, suggesting that