Thiago Augusto Costa De Oliveira *, Keith Davids **, Renata Alvares Denardi ***, Alexandre Moreira **** and Umberto Cesar Corrêa ****
(*) Universidade Paulista and Faculdades Unianchieta, São Paulo, Brazil, 4283
(**) Centre for Sports Engineering Research, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK, 6123
(***) Fundação Hermínio Ometto, São Paulo, Brazil, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4520-3779
(****) Escola de Educação Física e Esporte, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Citation
Costa De Oliveira, T.A., Davids, K., Alvares Denardi, R., Moreira, A., Corrêa, U.C. (2026). Gaze behaviors and decision-making when passing the ball in futsal. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 57(4), 343-355. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2026.57.343
Abstract
This study investigated what information futsal players focused their gaze on, how often they focus on it, and how visual search emerges in when passing the ball in conditions of increasing information uncertainty. Twenty-one futsal players, male, with an average age of 17.2 years (± 0.7) performed passes demanding decision-making considering 3 choice alternatives (4 vs. 4). Results revealed that information gained from gaze fixations on key sources included: the court floor, ball, and target player (ball receiver) facilitated functional decision-making when passing in futsal. It is argued that information from these key sources facilitated the visual monitoring of other players (perception), postural (re)orientation for the organization of the movement pattern, and verification of the passing outcome (feedback), respectively. Furthermore, greater variability in gaze fixation was non-functional, since players did not find the critical information sources for successful decision-making when completing a pass
Keywords: Perception, Futsal, Ball Passing, Practice Design, Decision-making