{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T05:59:14Z","timestamp":1782367154113,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759968000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001791","name":"Griffith University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Postgraduate Research Scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Postgraduate Research Scholarship"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001791","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Virtual reality (VR) technologies are being increasingly used for training among football teams. Despite this, limited research has examined football players\u2019 acceptability and perceptions of VR training. It is essential to understand football players\u2019 perspectives on this training approach to identify any psychological factors that may influence its uptake.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A qualitative approach was adopted to explore footballers\u2019 acceptability and perceptions of VR in training. Fourteen professional and semi-professional football players completed a survey and took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews between May and October 2023. All participants were asked questions about their perspectives of the benefits and barriers of using VR for football training. The interview data was recorded and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Themes regarding the footballers\u2019 acceptability were interpreted within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model. Overall, the footballers demonstrated acceptability and emphasised its potential usefulness in football training. Footballers perceived VR as being beneficial for cognitive and perceptual-motor skill training, mental preparation and pressure training through exposure to representative game-like environments, as well as providing greater training flexibility. Alongside these benefits, factors which could hinder optimal uptake were identified, including lack of accessibility, financial costs, and perceptual differences between the VR environments and the real-world.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The present study provides insight into experienced football players\u2019 acceptability and perceptions of VR for training and suggest that VR training has potential to be accepted by football players, particularly when it is promoted to them as a flexible approach that can enhance their on-field performance.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0334167","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:49:52Z","timestamp":1760032192000},"page":"e0334167","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["A qualitative examination of football 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