Probiotics in Football (Soccer): A survey on practitioner’s current perceptions and practices

Background: Probiotic supplementation is attracting attention of the sports community to promote good health, adaptation to training, recovery and exercise performance.Purpose: To investigate the perceptions, as well as the current and common practices of practitioners supporting elite soccer teams regarding probiotic supplements.Methods: Sixty football practitioners (n=47 performance nutritionists, n=4 head of performance, n=1 physician, n=5 sport scientists, and n=3 strength & conditioning coach) from 5 different countries participated in a study consisting of a survey including 5 domains: demographic and professional characteristics (Who); perceptions about probiotics for health and performance (Why); methodological procedures about probiotics (What); mode of supplementation (How) and real-life practices about probiotics supplementation (When).Results: Data revealed 5 main findings: (1) overall agreement on the importance of probiotics for soccer players (80.0%) and on the consumption under the practitioner’s supervision (76.8%); (2) lack of consensus about the effects on athletic performance and recovery; (3) strong agreement on the use of probiotics to treat diarrhea (61.0%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (66.1%); (4) choice of multi-strain and specie probiotics supplements (85.2%); and (5) frequency of probiotics supplementation of 1 dose every day (69.1%) and in capsules formulations (83.3%).Conclusions: This study provides actionable insights into the implementation of probiotics supplementation in elite soccer players. While practitioners recognize the importance of probiotics for soccer players on gut health, further research and professional debate are warranted to develop empirical knowledge and provide pragmatic recommendations about the effects of probiotics and athletic performance, sleep and recovery.