Close soccer matches and tight title fights are rarely decided by players' technical skills or their coaches' tactical measures. The most significant impetus comes from an area that is often mentioned but difficult to grasp: mental strength, personality, and team cohesion after special victories.

Using current scientific knowledge and illustrated by many examples, this book describes the mental and cognitive processes that determine victory and defeat in soccer. Several interviews with well-known soccer coaches, managers and former players complement these findings from psychology and sport science.

It deals with phenomena such as the home field advantage, creativity on the field, extreme emotional situations, the limits of visual perception, group dynamic processes and modern leadership. Many myths of the game that can often be disproved, will be presented (e.g. "don't let shoot the penalty by the player who has been fouled"). For anyone interested in soccer, it will quickly become apparent which phenomena can actually be decisive for the game and which cannot.