Same, same but different? – A comparative discourse-theoretical content analysis of the constructions of football talent in German and Swedish newspapers

Abstract Although people may make sense of concepts like ‘talent’ and get influenced through discourses reinforced in the media, not much research has investigated the construction of ‘talent’ in the media or in relation to football, yet. By applying Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse-theoretical analysis and aspects of quantitative content analysis to forty-four news articles, this study compares how German and Swedish media construct and reinforce discourses of ‘talent’ in football. The findings suggest that cross-cultural media share common reference points in shaping discourses on ‘football talent’. However, these nodal points are allocated and formed in distinct ways within each country, thus constituting floating signifiers. The study unveils that ‘talent’ constitutes an empty concept within and across specific cultural settings. Nonetheless, the conceptual notions surrounding talent seems more uniform in Swedish media compared to Germany. Moreover, gender disparities in the context of ‘football talent’ discourses predominantly link talent with male football players.


Introduction
Talent has been contended to be an empty concept with limited guidance (Adamsen 2016).Nevertheless, it persists as a commonly used and ubiquitous term in research, media, and everyday language.In the context of Talent Identification (TID) processes, Johnston et al. (2018) highlight that even little differences in how we define and make sense of talent might have a significant impact on how athletes are 'identified, measured, and developed' (106).Similarly, Wattie and Baker (2017) highlight that the way 'people think about talent, its origin and how it develops, influence not only the efficacy of TID practices, but more importantly, the youth at the centre of TID' (69).
Having undergone shifts in meaning over time (Li 2019), the term 'talent' is now commonly employed within the sphere of sports (Baker et al. 2020;Johnston et al. 2018).It is regarded as a 'scarce and precious resource for society, ' with a substantial amount of potentially valuable human talent going underutilized in every generation (Tranckle and Cushion 2006).Blanco and Golik (2021), for instance, have found that often 'talent spotters (…) could not differentiate potential from performance' and that they 'tend to overestimate current performance as a predictor of potential' (34).To mitigate losing or mis-identifying talent, a lot of today's talent research focuses on when and how to best identify and develop athletes (Balyi, Way, and Higgs 2013;Côté et al. 2020;Gulbin et al. 2013).Additionally, Abbott et al. (2005), for instance, found that many attempt to identify sports talent by measuring independent and volatile qualities.These features are primarily physical measurements (Johnston et al. 2018).However, according to Abbott et al. (2005), talent must not be reduced to relatively simple metrics such as size, strength, speed, or aerobic capacity.Wattie and Baker (2017) emphasize that genetic research is still in its early stages, and it will take more time until 'these findings will have the robust validity necessary to make conclusions about their importance' (7).While much research emphasizes the relevance of environmental or personality variables such as self-control, grit and deliberate practice to elite athlete development over genetic advantages (Ericsson 2007;Tedesqui andYoung 2017a, 2017b), others, like Ackerman (2014), states that 'both the extreme nature and the extreme nurture views are silly' (15).
Previously, it has been argued that the way people make sense of certain concepts, like talent, is not just a result of cognition within the individual's mind, but that it is influenced by dialogues (Linell 2009).These dialogues may take place in mundane conversations between people, such as colleagues, families, and friends.Interactions of this nature often give rise to collectively shared discursive narratives, subsequently utilized to rationalize specific actions and presented as evaluations of distinct behaviors (Georgakopoulou 2007).Looking at two selection camps for Swedish youth national teams in soccer and hockey, Kilger and Jonsson (2016), for instance, have investigated how performance appraisal interviews are used in order to produce the subject position of a selectable talent in the discourse of sport selection.In the specific case of media, van Brussel, Carpentier, and de Cleen (2019) describe news articles as 'phantasmatic sites where discourses work upon the subject, succeeding (or failing) in getting a hold of them' (21).Smith (2020), for instance, concluded that media discourses can have a significant impact on sports participation.Others, like Park and Shin (2023) utilized discourse analysis to investigate how media reported on coach Sarah Murray (the first foreign, female and youngest head coach of the South Korean women's national ice hockey team at the 2018 Olympics), concluding, for example, that Murray was frequently constructed to be subordinate to male colleagues, and by doing so, reinforcing toxic gender stereotypes to a larger audience.When it comes to talent, Henriksen and Stambulova (2017) see media as an essential part of a country's macro-environment in their athletic talent development environment (ATDE) working model.With that in mind, and to grasp how football coaches, and society in general, could potentially get influenced and generate meaning of talent beyond their specific work environment, this study examines the wider socio-cultural contexts in which talent is constructed in Swedish and German media discourses.

Discourse-theoretical analysis (DTA) and content analysis
Discourse relies on the interpretation and mediation of actors in order to come into existence.It goes beyond just a linguistic analysis of what is said or written but rather establishes 'a relationship between language and the social and cultural contexts in which it is used' (Paltridge 2022, 2; see also Potter 1996).Although they exist independently of the individual texts that make up a discourse, discourses may be embodied and enacted through an array of texts -including written texts, spoken words, images, symbols, artifacts (Grant, Keenoy, and Oswick 1998).As a result, texts can be seen as a discursive 'unit' and a tangible example of dialogue (Feiz and Strauss 2014).However, there is no one way to go about analyzing discourse but many.Discourse-Theoretical Analysis (DTA), coined by Laclau and Mouffe (1985), has the advantage that it is specifically 'valuable for analyses that are aimed at deconstructing the complex relationships between representations, practices and identities, and the way they contribute to the generation of (old and new) meanings' (Carpentier and de Cleen 2007, 278), compared to more established approaches within media analysis, such as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).While these two forms of discourse analysis do have a few commonalities, such as both highlighting discourse as a practice constructing the social, Carpentier and de Cleen (2007) but also Jørgensen and Phillips (2002) point out that CDA rather represents an approach of discourse-as-language while DTA is characterized by its discourse-as-representations approach.With that in mind, DTA focuses not only on how realities are constructed, but also power dynamics within and between discourses.Each of the individual news articles analyzed in this study represents one discourse surrounding the master signifier 'talent' .McGowan (2018), states that 'the master signifier plays a structuring role in signification.We cannot do without it and remain within the signifying field.But the master signifier is not a meaningful signifier' (200).These power relations of discourses surrounding a specific master signifier -such as talent -become visible via the concepts of hegemony and antagonism (Carpentier and de Cleen 2007).Hegemony aims to build and stabilize nodal points in chains of equivalence that serve as the foundation of a social order.While they form these chains of equivalence, they also have the privileged task to structure moments -elements that become meaningful through articulation -and thus act as somewhat of an umbrella.Here it should be emphasized that Laclau and Mouffe (1985) do not view discourses as completely fixed, meaning that elements could always potentially join a discourse through the process of articulation but that temporary closure is necessary to make sense of the world.Moreover, and while some nodal points may simply have the role of structuring moments, some could be 'articulated differently in different discourses' (Torfing 1999, 301), and thus consist of different moments.In that case, the nodal point constitutes a floating signifier.Before a nodal point can be identified as a floating signifier, nodal points needs to form a chain of equivalence of a discourse and with and in relation to its master signifier (Jørgensen and Phillips 2002).These chains for the identity of the master signifier.Once established and made visible, the chains can be compared to one another to identify differences and similarities within nodal points, potentially uncovering them as floating signifiers, but also in regard to established identities (chains of equivalence) of master signifiers.To uncover these differences and similarities, DTA can be paired with, for instance, quantitative content analysis.In fact, Jørgensen and Phillips (2002) urge researchers to combine Laclau and Mouffe's DTA with other theories and methods (see also Glasze 2007;Glasson 2012).While discourse analysis concentrates on how text and context interact, quantitative content analysis concentrates on the text isolated from its context.Despite being situated in different paradigms, Hardy, Phillips, and Harley (2004) point out 'that content analysis can, through its focus on being systematic and quantitative, play a potentially useful role in expanding our understanding of the role of discourse in constructing the social' (20).As a result, pairing DTA with content analysis may provide deeper information on the presence and relationships of certain recurring nodal points in chains of equivalence creating talent identities, and thus reveal ongoing hegemonic projects and potential antagonistic discourses.
Antagonisms describe the struggle that takes place to establish a hegemonic discursive position -such as the ongoing debate in talent research on nature versus nurture (see introduction).However, while antagonistic discourses try to 'destabilize' each other, they simultaneously need each other 'as a constitutive outside' (Carpentier and de Cleen 2007, 275) in order to stabilize their own identity.Thus, DTA can be useful in uncovering and getting a better understanding of how discourses are constructed and which competing and hegemonic (dominant) social imaginaries and limitations surrounding talent exist within Swedish and German newspapers.

Case selection
Football constitutes a rapidly developing and highly globalized sport in which athletes frequently migrate from and to different cultural contexts (FIFA 2021).According to Agergaard and Ryba (2014), these migrating athletes are often exposed to challenges related to cultural practices and values.Ivarsson (2022), for instance, highlights that young football players transferring to foreign countries often suffer from 'culture shock' -specifically in relation to different training regimes or what coaches expect of them.This is not surprising, keeping mind that 'sense-making processes are culturally generated' (Alterio and McDrury 2003, 47).Gagné (2021), too, states that 'the meaning given to the concepts of giftedness and talent (…) varies significantly between cultural groups' (142).In order to investigate how and what exact cross-cultural similarities and differences in understandings of talent exists in the media that could potentially influence key figures in elite sport (such as coaches), as well as reinforce athlete's culture shock, a cross-cultural case study design was chosen.
Germany and Sweden are at the centre of this cross-cultural research, considering that processes linked to globalization -such as the increase and importance of the international transfer market (FIFA 2021) -are fueling a growing interest in cross-cultural understanding around the world (Minkov 2013).However, it should be highlighted that 'any similarities or differences revealed by a cross-national study may be no more than an artifact of the choice of countries' (Hantrais 1999, 100-101).Yin (2009), too, warns that one shall not just randomly select cases, but that each case needs to serve a specific purpose.
Furthermore, the countries had to be chosen in terms of the study's feasibility.As different languages and contexts in which we interact affect discursive practices and how meaning is constructed (Harré, Brockmeier, and Mühlhäuser 1999), it was crucial to select cases based on the cultural knowledge and language repertoire of the researcher who is familiar with both, the German and the Swedish language and cultural context.
In addition to the methodological and cultural considerations, it is imperative to underscore that the media analysis serves as a pivotal element within a comprehensive comparative research project that is intricately woven into a network of elite clubs and informed by key stakeholders in the specified countries of Germany and Sweden.Consequently, the deliberate selection of these two nations as the primary subjects of our media analysis is not an isolated decision but rather an integral and methodically justified component within the overarching objectives of this expansive research initiative.Maintaining a consistent geographical focus ensures the maintenance of a coherent 'red thread' throughout the research process, which, in turn, facilitating the eventual integration of findings from different facets of enhancing the understanding of talent constructions.

Material
Swedish and German news articles were sampled using a similar process.However, as Germany has a significantly larger population than Sweden, the selection of pertinent articles commenced with the creation of a list of daily local and national news outlets with a minimum of 150,000 readers.Moreover, it was assumed that bigger news outlets would have a greater social impact than smaller ones.This led to a sample of exactly twenty news outlets to choose articles from.An equal amount of the twenty biggest Swedish news outlets have been selected to match this number.Articles were selected using a Google News search has been conducted for each news outlet, using the key words 'football' and 'talent' in the respective languages.Only articles shown on the first result page have been considered.In both cases the time frame was set for six months (end of 2021 to mid 2022), resulting in 146 German and 106 Swedish news articles.Thirty-five German articles were hidden behind paywalls which were not considered.The deliberate choice to exclude paywall articles in the analysis is grounded in the aim to promote inclusivity and open access to our findings, ensuring that a diverse audience can engage with the research without encountering restrictions.In the Swedish case, all but eighteen of the articles were blocked by paywalls, requiring the purchase of fifteen individual subscriptions to Swedish news outlets.After scanning each German and Swedish article twice, a purposeful selection of twenty-one Swedish and twenty-three German 'information-rich' (Patton 2002) articles has been made.

Ethical, methodological and theoretical considerations
This study has undergone the scrutiny of the Swedish Ethical Research Authority.Although the option of anonymizing names was explored, it is worth noting that the information presented in this study is already in the public domain, and individuals and organizations mentioned in news articles have generally given their consent for their names and affiliations to be disclosed.Both the researcher and the ethics board operate under the assumption that journalists of the scrutinized articles have adhered to the guidelines outlined in the German Press Code established by the German Press Council (2023).
The quotations represented in the analysis, illustrating examples of the entire empirical material, have carefully been translated from their respective, original languages (German and Swedish).Nevertheless, it is important to highlight, that these translations inherently carry my perspective as a researcher, as language is not neutral and reflects the author's worldview (Spivak 1993).It is essential to consider the impact of the researcher in interpretative, qualitative research.However, it should be noted that DTA research, rooted in the social constructivist paradigm, does not seek to assert or establish a specific and absolute truth.Instead, it calls for a careful consideration of the findings within their specific contextual framework.I concur with the perspective articulated by Xu and Storr (2012) that the ethical considerations related to the 'researcher as an instrument' and the potential loss of meaning during the interpretation of results by the research audience (Sixsmith and Murray 2001) are relevant issues that require ongoing and in-depth deliberation among social scientists.Thus, diving into the findings and discussion section shortly, I urge the reader of this study to keep in mind the interpretative nature of discursive research.

Talent constructions in German newspapers
Comparing the chains of equivalences of all twenty-three German news articles reveal a rather heterogenous socio-cultural understanding of talent in football.Zooming into the chains of equivalence it seems that some nodal points are more established than others.These nodal points are: 'age' , 'football skills' , 'development' , 'environment' , 'transfer' and 'personality' .
While most (40%) of the twenty-three discourses contain at least two of the six dominant nodal points in a chain of equivalence, it is more likely that they show up in a variety of different combinations with each other, as well as other, less recurring nodal points (e.g.religious beliefs associated with talent (see Figure 1).Consequently, these nodal points carry different meanings in different articulations of football talent and can be understood as floating signifiers.' Age' was by far the most articulated nodal point within the chains of equivalences of talent, appearing in approximately 65% of the twenty-three discourses.An example on how such an articulation can look like can be found in a news article by RP ONLINE (Dinkelborg 2022).The author reports how 36-year-old footballer player Adam Bodzek was compelled to leave his team competing to assume a position of a 'leading player' in the club's regional U23 to support younger players in training.
In the end, Adam Bodzek did not take this step out of free will.No question: Fortuna's captain would have loved to stay another season and be part of the team playing in the second division.After all, he still feels in shape to stand up to the challenges of professional football.
(…) because talents need a strong and experienced shoulder they can lean on; a leader of the pack who shows them the right way.
Here, Bodzek is framed as an athlete who, with his experience and age, does no longer count as a talent.Instead, it is the young players that are talents while older players are 'leaders' providing 'an experienced shoulder' to lean on.This quote reflects a cultural belief within elite sport, in which athletes above a certain age are past their peak and where age plays a bigger (de)selection factor than, for instance, one's physical shape (Dendir 2016).This reinforces a culture in which the younger athlete -the talent -is seen as a better investment than the older athlete -the one who is past the talent stage.Thus, the loss of one's talent status seems to be accompanied by a crucial shift in which the athlete goes from possessing valuable physical capital to turning into a valuable resource possessing 'regular' , yet essential, human capital to keep the talent cogwheel going (Bourdieu 1986;Shilling 2004).The idea that physical capital declines with an increase of age may also reinforce practices in which talent identification processes commence as early as possible.While much research recommends against early identification and specialization (e.g.Côté et al. 2020;Sieghartsleitner et al. 2019), it should not be ignored that the increasing age of football players constitutes a higher risk factor for potential injuries (Arnason et al. 2004;Hammes et al. 2015).
Another prioritized nodal point in football talent discourses in Germany is 'football skills' which is represented in 39% of the discourses (see Table 1).Talented players are, for instance, articulated as experts on the pitch (Carspecken and Sauerborn 2022;Schmitt 2022).Expertise tends to be identified as competence (Evers & van der Heijden, 2017).By emphasizing the football expertise of the German football talent, the discourses highlight an overall narrative in which talents achieve their potential in a situation where one is able to exploit and put to use 'the skills with which he or she is equipped and where the degree of intensity, amount of time available, degree of difficulty of the task and the amount of personal responsibility are sufficiently challenging' (Evers & van der Heijden, 2017, 84).Evers and van der Heijden (2017) conclude that talented individuals who are not given the chance to use their abilities are sometimes not viewed as experts.The framing of the German athlete as an 'expert' is, thus, an additional emphasis of their talent.However, 35% of the discourses highlight that technical abilities are not the only important aspect, but that 'personality' plays a key role in the football talent identity as well (see Table 1).In fact, both of them can be found together in about 30% of all chains of equivalence, showing somewhat of a relationship.According to Solomon and Rhea (2008) coaches frequently describe desirable personality traits in athletes using respect, having work ethic, integrity, honesty, mental toughness, ability to perform under pressure and having an overall positive attitude.Nevertheless, in a German news article by the new outlet Kölnische Rundschau player Tim Lemperle (Carspecken 2022) is described in the following way: This quote, for instance, emphasizes a preference for athletes that exhibit patience, discipline, and confidence -even if you cannot see the results yet, you need to keep working hard and have confidence in your progress (Vealey and Cooley 2017).Positive emotions, such as confidence, can increase an athlete's willingness to work hard and persist in mastering new sports skills (Martens, Vealey, and Burton 1990).While Evers and van der Heijden (2017) argue that personal traits, such as the willingness to work hard and the ability to take responsibility, are crucial to obtain expertise and develop practical skills, the prevailing German discourse on talent is yet governed by the idea that football/athletic skills are more characteristic for talent than having specific personality traits that could develop practical skills on the pitch.As practical skills on the pitch may be more visually present than personality traits, this puts young athletes with lower skill level in a disadvantageous position when compared to each other, even if they could potentially still develop if given more time.Another 'personality' example can be found in an interview with 'Fortuna-Talent' Tim Corsten and his twin brother Jan (Dinkelborg and Baczyk 2022).Here, the brothers are asked about a specific memory they have from playing a match against each other whilst being on opposing teams.They reply: Jan: A lot of ambition because I did not want to lose against my brother.I can remember this scene vividly because my jersey broke.Tim: I, too, did not want to lose against my brother.But also because I used to play for that club in the past.
While this example could be seen as simply illustrating a scene of friendly rivalry between brothers, it reinforces the idea that ambition and winning is part of the identity of a talented athlete.Moreover, it shows how engrained that discourse is within athletes.The brothers repeatedly refer to how they tried everything to not lose in front of their sibling and old teammates.Carless and Douglas (2012) argue that performance discourses -which revolve around winning and beating others -continue to dominate, trivialize or even fully reject other stories that could stand for athletic success.Adding to this, Fletcher and Scott (2010) highlight that failure represents a stressor for elite athletes because it can impact and threaten their talent identity (Tamminen, Poucher, and Povilaitis 2017) and result in negative emotions like anger, anxiety, and shame (Sagar and Stoeber 2009).
Similar to the nodal point 'personality' , the nodal point 'development' seems to struggle to establish a fixed meaning, too.In the German context, it tends to be discussed on two different levels: the general skill level and the personal level.Moreover, talent development is understood as being in motion and never static, as well as a product of hard work.In an article by Die Rheinpfalz (Dill-Korter 2022) a coach, for instance, says: All of his players have talent, but simply having talent is not enough.'Hard work beats talent, when talent is not working'.
Here the author highlights that resting on having received the label 'talent' is insufficient since it is no longer a special label at a certain level.Instead, the key to development and achievement is related to hard work -framing talent as a secondary, and more passive factor of athletic success.Moreover, the idea of a holistic perspective on talent development on but also off the pitch is emphasized.Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (Galler and Leischwitz 2022), for instance, quotes a coach saying that: (…)it is also about teaching the players values, to work on their personalities (…) This reinforces a discourse in which being a skillful athlete might no longer be enough, but in which the talent must also show specific qualities off the pitch.Robinson (2018), for instance, argues that personal development cultivates athletic talents and potential but also improves awareness and self-identity, generates human capital and enhances quality of life.Talents are expected to exhibit change over time and in all areas of life -on the pitch and personality-wise.This change is ideally brought about through active and (hard) work by both, the athlete themselves, and those who work with the athlete, building a narrative in which a talent's success depends on the environment, too (such as having access to a 'good' coach).
In fact, 'environment' is articulated in 35% of the German discourses.They emphasize, for example, the athlete's family and their support as a nurturing environment for their development.However, other articulations emphasize the role and importance of the coach or the club.For instance, RP ONLINE (Senf 2022) published an article about the Nachwuchstalent (an up-and-coming talent) Nnamdi Collins in which both, the family and the coach were highlighted as crucial resources for the athlete:

At the age of six, his mother Agnes signed him up at the football club since her son's passion for football was undeniable. 'He always gave me freedom during matches' reports Collins about his early beginnings. But his first coach was not one of the easy-going-kind. 'He always pushed me to do more', says Collins.
This reinforces a discourse in which young players who want to be like Nnamdi Collins, 1) depend on an environment in which parents are supportive of their children's' passions and can identify them correctly, but also 2) need competent coaches who challenge and trust their players.Similarly, in the Münchener Merkur (Nikel 2021), an optimal environment is described as one where the athletes (…) feel comfortable and at home -a part of the Bayern-family.Only then it's possible to really reveal all your potential to develop and only then it is possible to become a really good FC-Bayern-player.
Here, a productive environment is understood as giving players a sense of belonging.Stewart, Courtright, and Barrick (2012) found that team members who have a strong sense of belonging perform better and that wanting to be accepted by the group constituted a more powerful motivator than, for instance, money.In the competitive world of football, it can be of great interest and urgency to clubs to keep good players and not lose them on the transfer market to potentially better paying rivals.Thus, providing these kinds of environments may not just be of importance for athlete's performances and development, but also strategically motivated.The stronger a player's identification with the club through optimal environments, the more likely they might be to stay.Adding to this, it seems that talents go through different levels of dependency in relation to their environment.In fact, previous research highlights the pressure young athletes experience to perform efficiently in specialized training environments (Myer et al. 2015;Normand, Wolfe, and Peak 2017).While the new talent depends on the environment to develop, the more established talent may shift the power from the environment making decisions back to itself, reaching a certain level of autonomy by deciding whether the environment is sufficient for their development.The German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung (2022), for instance, published the following:

Second-league club Holstein Kiel has scouted centre-midfield-talent Lucas Wolf. (…) The up-and-coming player (…) is glad over his contract. 'It was an easy decision considering the noticeable trust from the responsible staff for us young players (…)', he said.
According to Ryan and Deci (2000), such autonomy is considered to increase feelings of internal control and have a positive effect on long-term motivation.
Relating to this, another prevalent nodal point -'transfer' -appears in 30% of all German news articles (see Table 1).In an article by Sport Bild (Ihle 2022) on French player Aurélien Tchouameni, the author states that: The mega talent has been on the list of many big clubs.Liverpool, Chelsea and Real were the top favorites for a transfer.(…) It seems like Liverpool has won the race for Tchouameni now.
In this example, the perception of having talent is closely linked to what Bourdieu (1986) and Shilling (2004) describe as high physical capital.Indeed, the idea of talent as a form of capital is not without historical precedent, as talent has been historically utilized as a unit of currency or measurement, as seen in the Homeric, Attic, or Aeginetan talents (Goodwin 1885; Ridgeway 1887).In ancient Greece, possessing a substantial amount of talent equated to increased purchasing power.Similarly, when transposed into a more contemporary sporting context, talent imparts a specific value to the athlete.However, a key distinction between these two forms of talent lies in the fact that the Greeks had a clear method for measuring the value of their talents, typically by weight, as they were inanimate, physical objects composed of uniform material.In contrast, gauging talent as it is manifested in human bodies proves exceedingly complex, given the diversity of human physiques and the intricate facets of human existence.Taking this into consideration, discourses that frame football talent as an indicator of value within a market-oriented society, such as the football transfer market, may pose challenges, as the concept remains inherently subjective.Furthermore, this invites a discussion about how the perception of talent constructs a social reality where certain individuals are comparatively more valuable than others in specific spheres of life, such as in the realm of sports.While this may not be inherently problematic, this perspective has the potential to objectify athletes and reduce them to a form of 'human currency' , detracting from their status as autonomous human subjects.
Last, but not least, the study reveals that only 4.4% of the analyzed articles included constructions of female players, sparking questions of media biases, gender representation, and the broader participation of women and girls in football.

Talent constructions in Swedish newspapers
In contrast to Germany, the examination of the twenty-one Swedish news articles reveals more homogenous constructions of football talent.However, and similar to the German case, comparing the chains of equivalence, it can be observed that certain nodal points appear to hold greater prominence in talent constructions than others.These nodal points are: 'age' , 'football skills' , 'development' , 'environment' , and 'personality' (see Table 1).While these nodal points may appear together in a variety of different combinations with each other in the twenty-one identified chains of equivalence, the likelihood of them being mentioned together is given relatively often.For instance, 40% of the news articles included at least 4 out 5 of the recuring nodal points (see Figure 2).
In 62% of the Swedish discourses articulations of 'age' can be found (see Table 1).Often, an athlete's age is highlighted merely through the continuous repetition of it.The following quote, just to give one example, was taken from an article published by the Swedish news outlet Sundsvall Tidning (Mickelsson 2022) in which the age of the athlete was mentioned three times within five sentences:

It was Tuesday when Degerfors IF announced that they recruited 20-year-old defender Oscar
Walling.That means that he only stayed with HuFF for one year.
When Sporten talked to the 20-year-old defender he was busy packing.
-Yes, it's full force now.I just have to pack up and move down.We start training on Monday, says the 20-year-old defender.
The article discusses Wallin's quick advancement from being a talent to playing in Sweden's highest football division.This supports reinforces a narrative in which those who are young and succeed to play in the Allsvenskan must be particularly 'talented' .However, in other articles, the significance of 'age' in relation to talent was highlighted in a different way.Hallandsposten (Weinstock 2022) quotes a coach saying that: Younger players can be shaped the way I want while older players are more difficult to form.
This statement illustrates how younger athletes are favored over older because they are easier to mold into the desired type of player needed.However, 'development' is not just talked about in relation to 'age' and in terms of becoming better at football, but also in form of personal development.Swedish Expressen (Wulcan 2022b) quotes a player saying: (…) the first year was tough.I didn't get as much play time as I wanted to, but I played with a lot of good players and learnt a lot.I developed both as a player and as a person.
In another article about 'super talent' Hugo, the Skånska Dagbladet (Bliding 2022) writes: I never had a doubt about Hugo's potential but during some of the years in his youth he had to go through hardships which have made him stronger.
These two quotes illustrate and support a narrative in which athletes who have overcome hardships in life and yet developed well, must possess some particular kind of talent.Additionally, these discourses reinforce the idea that development is non-linear and that a decrease in performance or a plateau in development does not necessarily indicate a lack of talent.Moreover, it is highlighted that playing with older and more experienced players has had a perceived positive effect on the player -emphasizing the interdependence of 'old and new' talents.Lastly, this reinforces a holistic narrative of talent development in which sport is not just a means to develop athletic skills, but the person as a whole.
Closely relating to this, different types of preferable environments for the development of talent have been articulated.In the Swedish newspaper Smålandsposten (Magnusson 2021), a coach, for instance, states that:

(…) I think that our holistic solution with school, training alternatives and housing close to the arena has become a deciding factor (…)
According to Sorkkila et al. (2020), excessive athletic and academic demands have been linked to burnout symptoms in high-achieving adolescents.The absence of support for athletes' dual careers in talent development environments has been linked to reinforce such burnouts and increase talents to withdraw from sports (Rothwell, Rumbold, and Stone 2020).However, the Swedish discourse emphasizes a holistic perspective on talent development.The club, for instance, should feel like a home to an athlete or a place that bring training and school in tune with each other.Henriksen and Stambulova (2017) argue that coaches who build a holistic and lifelong learning experience, rather than solely focusing on performance enhancement, have the potential to positively impact the development of elite athletes.
With a representation of 66.6% in Swedish discourse, 'personality' -a combination of traits that predisposition a certain behaviour (Pervin 1996) -has been one of the most dominant nodal points.However, some articulations surrounding it are more elaborate than others.In Expressen Sport (Wulcan 2022b), for example, the sport director of a Swedish football club says the following about one of his players: The boy has so much damn personality that time stands still.I have seriously never seen something like that before (…) While 'personality' is clearly emphasized here, it is not specified what exact kind of personality traits this person is referring to and thus only giving us a vague idea what exactly it is that makes the player so special.Only later in the text, and when another person is interviewed, it becomes clearer that adaptability or high professionalism are valued in this club-specific context.It is also emphasized later that this particular player developed 'without losing his humbleness' on the way.The emphasis on being humble can also be observed in another article by Expressen Sport (Wulcan 2022a), in which a player is interviewed and asked what kind of strengths he has.He states: I am not particularly good at anything, I am just someone who really wants to win.I hate to lose, that's the worst thing I know.I never give up.
Thus, and especially in the Swedish context, 'humbleness' seems to be a reoccurring moment.Looking at the many different ways in which the nodal point 'personality' is described (through the inclusions of a variety of moments but also through the exclusion of elements), this nodal point constitutes a particularly interesting floating signifier.Besides 'humbleness' , for instance, other reoccurring moments to describe this nodal point are 'passion' and 'dedication' .Newman et al. (2019), for instance, suggest that 'passion is a multi-faceted construct, which encompasses a strong motivation to engage and persist in activities pertaining to a certain topic or domain, that is related to intense emotions of either valence and characterized by strong approach motivation/desire' ( 27).
When it comes to the nodal point 'football skills' , represented in approximately 52% of Swedish discourses, it is frequently highlighted that talented players are versatile.According to Dezman, Trninic, and Dizdar (2001), a player is considered versatile when their abilities and attributes enable them to meet various tactical demands.In Expressen (Wulcan 2022a) a coach says the following about his player Harun: That's what's so cool about Harun.On the pitch you can put him wherever you want.
While German discourse constructs talent around expertise, this seems not to be the case in Sweden.A study by Rangel, Ugrinowitsch, and Lamas (2019) on NBL players, for instance, exhibited a greater proportion of versatile players in comparison to specialists.Despite the apparent existence of cultural differences, there doesn't seem to be much research on player versatility in elite football.
Lastly, the study reveals that about one-third of the twenty-one analyzed articles included talent constructions of female players, while the rest were centred around male players.

Discussion
Comparing all forty-four chains of equivalence across the two countries, it becomes evident that constructions of talent within Swedish newspapers build a more homogenous and stable football talent identity compared to Germany.Using similar nodal points (see Table 1) implies a certain hegemonic idea of what constitutes a talent which in turn may also point at lower levels of antagonistic struggle to establish meaning surrounding talent.In Germany, where constructions of 'talent' show more heterogeneity, it could be argued that talent constructions are more antagonistic and less hegemonic (see Figures 1 and 2) The majority of the discourses in both countries construct talent using similar and recurring nodal points, such as 'environment' , 'development' , 'personality' , 'football skills' and 'age' .In Germany, another popular way to construct talent was around the discussion of 'transfers' .However, and while they use similar nodal points to construct talent, the way in which nodal points are prioritized differs (see Table 1), ultimately turning them into floating signifiers.For instance, in both Sweden and Germany the talent usually has gamerelated skills such as being good at passing and controlling the ball (Bergstedt 2022;Fioux 2022).However, while 'football skills' are articulated in 52.4% of the Swedish discourses, this is only the case for 39% of German discourses (see Table 1) -an interesting find considering that Reilly et al. (2000) emphasize that physiological and physical characteristics necessary for athletic success are not enough unless accompanied by a solid foundation of football skills and understanding of the game.
The overall identified nodal points align with current topics discussed in contemporary talent research.Previous research highlighted the value of elite surroundings for developing elite football players (Rossing et al. 2018) or which age is best to start specializing talented athletes in football is an ongoing and complex conversation (Cumming et al. 2017).Skills, too, are a commonly discussed topic with researchers studying the impact and development of perceptual (Vaeyens et al. 2007), tactical (Memmert and Roth 2007), technical skills (Ali 2011), physiological skills (Reilly et al. 2000;Stølen et al. 2005) or psychosocial competencies (Musculus and Lobinger 2018).
Research by Steca et al. (2018) argues that personalities of athletes tend to differ from those who do not participate in organized sports.This may explain why 'personality' is a recurring topic within talent constructions in both, Germany and Sweden.However, 'personality' constitutes a prime example for what constitutes a floating signifier since it is articulated and emphasized in many different ways (through the articulation of specific moments and the exclusion of certain elements) in both German and Swedish newspapers.Moments such as 'humbleness' may be more common in Sweden than, for instance, in Germany, where the focus is put on ambition and a winning mindset.Kilger and Jonsson (2016), for instance, have found that when Swedish football players display confidence, while also embodying humility, in their own narratives of success, they are essentially conforming to the discursive expectations of their specific social and cultural environmental.These discursive expectations are, as seen in the findings of this study, reinforced through media narratives of what constitutes talent in football.Moreover, the findings imply cultural differences potentially impacting how athletes can be perceived.This becomes increasingly important in a sport like football in which international transfers are becoming more common (FIFA 2021).However, further research is needed investigating the impact of culture on talent identification and selection.
Moreover, the findings suggest that 'age' continues to play a dominating role in both Sweden and Germany.'Talent' is almost exclusively associated with young athletes across both overarching discourses -despite research arguing against the efficiency of early (de) selection (Sieghartsleitner et al. 2019).Dendir (2016) found that the average striker peaks at 25, while the average defender peaks at 27.Moreover, Dendir (2016) found that many top-tier European soccer clubs embrace an unofficial contract strategy with shorter contracts when players get closer to this age.The belief that elite players have passed their peak performance by the time they reach the age of 30, is a widely spread within European soccer despite lack of research supporting these claims and is reflected in both, the German and Swedish discourse.
Relating to this, and while academic research on talent often discusses athletes based on their physical attributes, this is rarely done in talent constructions within Swedish and German media.However, the nodal point 'age' may arguably be seen as making indirect implications of an athlete's physical and psychological maturity.For pre-dominantly Caucasian populations, like Sweden and Germany, peak growth tends to occur at the age of around 13.5 -14 for boys and 12 − 12.5 for girls (Granados, Gebremariam, and Lee 2015;Stang and Story 2005).Adding to this, and according to Cobley et al. (2021), this means that the majority of human beings will grow and change substantially in their first two decades of life.However, maturation and specific developments needed for a sport like football may not necessarily happen in a linear progression.While the strength-maturation relationship tends to be consistently positive in aging athletes, the aerobic performancematuration relationship, for instance, is not (Cobley et al. 2021).This means that two people, although having the same maturity level, may not develop the same in term of their aerobic performance, implying that 'age' is not indicative for an athlete's assumed level of development.But while these inter-individual variations in youth athletes exists, sports like football continue to categorize participants into annual age groups.While alternative approaches to consider these variations exist, for instance, by taking into account the relative-age of an athlete, this approach has recently received critique as it may still give an advantage to early maturing athletes (Cumming et al. 2017).Instead, scholars like Cumming et al. (2017) suggest that holistic approaches to talent development might profit from bio-banding -a practice of classifying athletes according to characteristics related to growth and maturation rather than chronological age.It entails taking into account a particular athlete's physical, physiological, and psychological development, which may not coincide with their age in a strict sense.
With media discourses reinforcing and indicating that being a comparatively young and high-performing athlete implies bigger talent and better development, does not help to create an understanding in which variances in maturation in young and developing athletes are considered.This might cause or reinforce attitudes of 'being too old start' or 'too old to continue' in athletes, but also reinforce a discourse, and ultimately practice, in which early specialization is seen as the standard procedure.Specifically, in elite sport, and being part of a larger organization with different hierarchical levels, coaches simply may not have the power to make changes to outdated yet popular talent identification practices.They might also be reluctant to make changes as a result of herd mentality, which is defined as the tendency for members of a group to think or act in unison and without the presence of purposeful coordination by a leading figure (Wang et al. 2020).In relation to talent, the leading figure is replaced by the dominant, hegemonic discourses reinforcing specific practices.However, more research is needed investigating this issue.
While Germans seem to construct talents as experts, Swedes emphasize versatility.This illustrates how one may fit the talent constructions in one context, but not necessarily in another.Migrating athletes could potentially experience 'culture shock' (Ivarsson 2022) if they happen to move to a culture context in which they fall outside of the hegemonic discourse of 'talent' in their host-culture than what they are used to from their home-culture.While this is not to say that one approach, the expert versus versatility approach, is better than the other, Haugaasen and Jordet (2012) point out that practice performed as closely to individual role and position-specific variants as possible is the most effective strategy to improve performance.Others (e.g.Côté et al. 2020), however, argue against this, by emphasizing that good coaches should focus on a diversified practice as it may decrease the risk of injuries, general physical and psychosocial growth, and burnout.
The idea of the 'good coach' is a frequently articulated factor relating to an optimal 'environment' for talent development.This reinforces previous academic findings that the coach plays an important role in the athlete's life (Potrac, Gilbert, and Denison 2012).Moreover, the 'environment' seems to play an equally important role as 'personality' in the German discourse and is mentioned in about 35% of all twenty-three investigated news articles.However, it should be emphasized again that this does not mean that 'environment' and 'personality are necessarily articulated in the same discourses' .The same goes for Sweden, where 'environment' shares its rank with the nodal point 'football skills' which are articulated in about half of all twenty-one discourses (see Table 1).Nevertheless, 'environment' ranks below other identity factors such as 'personality' , 'development' or 'age' .While somewhat important, external factors (having a good coach, family support, access to training facilities etc.) seem to be more secondary in constructions of talent in both Swedish and German discourse of talent.
Lastly, the findings reveal gender inequalities in both countries when it comes to the representations of female athletes in relation to football talent.In football talent research, too, the focus remains on the use of single-sex (male) samples (Curran, MacNamara, and Passmore 2019;Ford et al. 2009;Zibung and Conzelmann 2013).A possible explanation for this is that girls and women continue to have far less opportunities than boys to take part in elite training settings and school football classes (Söderström and Garn 2022).Keeping these overarching gender inequalities in sport in mind, it is not surprising to see quantitative gender inequalities when it comes to how talent is constructed within German and Swedish media, too.Since gender was not a criterion while setting the boundaries for this case study, a deeper analysis of these gender differences seemed out of scope.Nevertheless, Gee (2009) observed that 'the media, and specifically mediated sport, serves as a strategic vehicle through which particular conceptions of gender are manifested as natural or commonsensical and are reproduced for a large audience' (580).While considering the profound implications of even minor disparities in our definitions and understanding of talent on the identification, assessment, and development of athletes (Johnston et al. 2018), it becomes increasingly evident that conducting more extensive research into the influence of not only gender but also other demographic categories, including ethnicity, race, sexuality, and socio-economic status, on talent constructions holds the potential to reveal the intricate interplay of multiple factors in shaping our conception of talent.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the discourse-theoretical analysis of German and Swedish news articles reveals that both countries construct 'football talent' using similar nodal points such as 'environment' , 'development' , 'personality' , 'football skills' , and 'age' .However, the discourses differ in their connection and relation to each other across cultures.Swedish news articles show more homogeneity, while German discourses exhibit more variance.These findings suggest a more hegemonic understanding of the Swedish football talent identity, while the overall understanding of the German football identity seems more antagonistic.Moreover, there are also differences in the prioritization of nodal points, with Swedish discourses emphasizing 'football skills' more than German discourses.' Age' and the role of 'environment' are important in both countries, while development plays a stronger role in the Swedish discourse.These findings illustrate that the master signifier 'talent' in the context of football in Sweden and German, constitutes an empty signifier on a mono -and intercultural level as it struggles to establish meaning.Consequently, these findings align with previous claims by Adamsen (2016) arguing that 'talent' constitutes an empty concept.Moreover, gender inequalities in talent constructions are evident, with a strong association of talent with male football players.Regardless of their cultural context, reinforcing specific, hegemonic discourses on who counts as talent and who does not, may have several consequences.Firstly, they could potentially discourage athletes who do not identify with the talent identity presented in the discourse.Secondly, they could act as a motivator for both, those who do and do not fit the discourse.However, and as presented in the analysis, athletes may feel additional pressure to act and perform according to the talent discourse.Thirdly, athletes transferring to different contexts may find themselves a position in which they do not longer match the talent discourse they are accustomed to.In an intercultural context, athletes may be exposed to culture shock (Ivarsson 2022).An awareness of how talent is constructed and perceived in the host culture may help to select or prepare accordingly in order to mitigate potential stressful experiences.Finally, the discussion of how talent identities are formed through discursive practices should continue, as they may just be a result of contingency, chance and historical circumstance instead of our unique characters or inevitable anthropological constraints (May 2005).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Heterogeneity within chains of equivalence based on articulations of nodal points (np) in the discursive constructions of football talent in Germany.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Homogeneity within chains of equivalence based on articulations of nodal points (np) in the discursive constructions of football talent in Sweden.

Table 1 .
recuring nodal points in Swedish and German news articles.
Tim (…) is dissatisfied.Why?Because he isn't aware yet, what massive improvements he has made in his development.In this moment, you can't get impatient, you need to keep working.