Coach-Athlete Perceptual Alignment in Youth Soccer: A Descriptive Multi-Case Study of Leadership Perceptions and Match-Observed Behaviors.

Coaching leadership is experienced through both subjective perceptions and observable actions, but these sources do not represent equivalent constructs. This descriptive multi-case study examined coach-athlete perceptual alignment and match-observed behaviors in four elite youth soccer coach-team cases. Four male youth soccer coaches and 64 male athletes (14-18 years) from a single Romanian elite soccer academy participated in the study. Athletes completed the Multidimensional Scale of Leadership in Sport (MSLS) before and after an official match; each coach completed one post-match self-rating referring to that match. Each coach was compared only with his corresponding team's post-match mean. Dimension-specific discrepancy scores and a mean absolute discrepancy (MAD) index were calculated. Pre-post comparisons used Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Holm correction. One match per coach was coded descriptively using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS). The MAD index was lowest for the U17 case (1.93) and highest for the U18 case (4.35). After Holm correction, post-match scores were lower for Inspiration, Individualization, and Support. Instruction was highly rated in the MSLS and was the most frequent CAIS category in all four matches (25.2-41.6%), representing a parallel descriptive pattern rather than formal agreement. The findings are specific to four coach-team cases and provide complementary, preliminary perspectives on perceived and match-observed leadership. The single-match, single-observer design and absence of observational reliability assessment preclude characterization of habitual coaching behavior.