Samenvatting

This study assesses the evolutionary leadership theory and the natural leadership instrument of Van Vugt and Ahuja (2011) in the context of youth elite football. The Evolutionary Leadership Theory is a comprehensive new way of looking at leadership. The evolutionary approach suggests that environmental pressures influence the choice who becomes the leader. The results revealed that the concept of natural leadership cannot be applied to the context of youth football as the preliminary data showed that natural leadership in youth sport requires a more basic framework of leadership consisting of communication, resources and focus on competition.