Many individuals aspire to achieve excellence in all areas of life, and it is observed that this goal is of particular importance in the field of sports. Especially in highly competitive sport disciplines, athletes aim to rank first in their branches, to win medals, to break records and, most importantly, to be recognized. In order to achieve these aspirations, athletes strive to be perfect with the least amount of mistakes.

Consider specifying what “game of the age” means or provide a reference to support this claim. It would be helpful to clarify whether this phrase refers to football’s historical significance, current popularity, or another aspect. In addition to these skills, athletes must possess physical attributes such as strength, speed, balance, and endurance (Alexe et al., 2024; Samavati Sharif et al., 2024) as well as psychological characteristics including motivation, anxiety, self-confidence, personality, attention, concentration, mental endurance, stress management, and perfectionism (Arısoy and Pepe, 2021; Kalinowski et al., 2020; Watson et al., 2024).

Table 2 shows that the mean positive thinking value of the football players participating in the study was 20.536 ± 4.346, their mean perception of challenge value was 22.070 ± 3.378, their mean perception of threat value was 13.704 ± 7.006 and their mean perception of excellent performance value was 30.083 ± 11.294. It was also found that positive thinking skills had a moderate positive correlation with challenge (r = 0.595**, p = 0.000), a low negative correlation with threat perception (r = −0.264, p = 0.000) and a low positive correlation with excellent performance perception (r = 0.258, p = 0.000). Challenge perception has a moderate positive correlation with positive thinking skills (r = 0.595, p = 0.000), a low negative correlation with threat perception (r = −0.246, p = 0.000) and a low positive correlation with excellent performance perception (r = 0.233, p = 0.000). Threat perception was found to have a low-level negative correlation with positive thinking skills (r = −0.264, p = 0.000), a low-level negative correlation with challenge perception (r = −0.246, p = 0.000) and a low level negative correlation with excellent performance perception (r = −0.209, p = 0.000). Perception of excellent performance was found to have a low positive correlation with positive thinking skills (r = 0.258, p = 0.000), a low positive correlation with perception of challenge (r = 0.233, p = 0.000) and a low negative correlation with perception of threat (r = −0.209, p = 0.000) (Table 3).

The results indicate that positive thinking has a moderate and statistically significant effect on challenge (a = 0.439, p < 0.01), explaining 32% of the variance in the challenge variable (R² = 0.319). This suggests that individuals with higher levels of positive thinking are more likely to perceive challenging situations positively. Additionally, the direct effect of positive thinking on the perception of excellent performance was found to be moderate and statistically significant (c’ = 0.484, p < 0.001), indicating that individuals with greater positive thinking skills tend to have a higher perception of excellent performance. Moreover, the challenge variable played a mediating role in this relationship, as it had a positive and statistically significant effect on the perception of excellent performance (b = 0.426, p < 0.001). This implies that individuals who perceive challenges positively are more likely to enhance their performance perception. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of positive thinking in fostering a constructive approach to challenges, which in turn contributes to a stronger perception of excellent performance (Figure 3).

Finally, when it was examined whether the challenge variable mediates the relationship between the two variables, the findings show that the indirect effect of the positive thinking variable on the perception of excellent performance is significant, thus the challenge variable mediates the relationship between the two variables (b = 0.426, 95% BCA CI [0.019, 0.361]). As a matter of fact, the bootstrap analysis revealed that the adjusted bias and accelerated confidence interval values (BCA CI) did not include the zero (0) value (Gürbüz, 2019; Hayes, 2013).

Finally, when it was examined whether the challenge variable mediates the relationship between the two variables, the findings show that the indirect effect of the positive thinking variable on the perception of excellent performance is significant, thus the threat variable mediates the relationship between the two variables (b = −0.425, 95% BCA CI [0.036, 0.196]). As a matter of fact, the bootstrap analysis revealed that the adjusted bias and accelerated confidence interval values (BCA CI) did not include the zero (0) value (Gürbüz, 2019; Hayes, 2013; Table 4; Figure 4).

The results indicate that positive thinking had a negative, moderate, and statistically significant effect on threat (a = −0.425, p < 0.01), meaning that individuals with higher levels of positive thinking tend to experience lower levels of threat perception. However, only 7% of the variance in the threat variable was explained by positive thinking (R² = 0.070), suggesting that other factors also contribute to threat perception. Furthermore, the direct effect of positive thinking on the perception of excellent performance was positive, moderate, and statistically significant (c’ = 0.567, p < 0.001). This implies that individuals with higher positive thinking skills are more likely to perceive their performance as excellent. Regarding the mediating role of threat, the results showed that threat had a negative but low-level effect on the perception of excellent performance (b = −0.244, p < 0.001). This suggests that while experiencing a sense of threat may slightly reduce performance perception, its impact is relatively weak. Overall, these findings suggest that positive thinking helps reduce threat perception, which in turn has a minor negative effect on performance perception. However, the direct effect of positive thinking on performance perception remains stronger than the indirect effect through threat.

In the present study, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of challenge and threat in the relationship between football players’ positive thinking skills and their perceptions of excellent performance. The model developed in this direction was found to be compatible with the data. Among the variables in the model, it was found that positive thinking skills positively affected the perceptions of excellent performance, in other words, strong positive thinking skills had a significant contribution to the football players’ perceptions of excellent performance. In the literature review, no study examining the effects of positive thinking skills of athlete groups on their perception of excellent performance was found. In the literature, it was reported that there is a positive relationship between positive thinking skills and psychological well-being (Güvenç, 2021; Day and Maltby, 2003), self-efficacy (Alkhatib, 2020), courage (Çelik and Sarıçam, 2018), attitude toward learning (İnce, 2020), life satisfaction (Jung et al., 2007; Leung et al., 2005; Nikmanesh and Mirkazehi, 2020) and interpersonal communication (Karadağ, 2019). There are also studies reporting a positive relationship between the perception of performance and tactical skills (Yıldırım and Göral, 2023), emotion and motivation (Stoeber, 2011), and success goals (Stoeber et al., 2008). Positive thinking is a cognitive process (McGrath, 2004) that helps individuals to have hopes for the future (Akın et al., 2015), develops useful strategies to cope with negativity, and then supports movement toward a positive focus and interpretation (Tod et al., 2011). Athletes with positive thinking skills stand out as individuals who can produce solutions to the problems they face during competitions and perform well by moving away from negative thoughts and focusing on positive thoughts (Gürbüz, 2019). The positive thinking skills of athletes can encourage them to embrace their sports branch, improve their athletic skills, and reach as maximum performance levels (Şahinler et al., 2020). It has been reported that football players have more positive thoughts and exhibit more constructive attitudes toward the problems they face (Tazegül, 2018). In football players, tactics, physical processes and techniques affecting sports performance can show similarities. Therefore, psychological skills are becoming increasingly important for increasing sports performance (Orhan and Ünlü, 2022; Lange-Smith et al., 2024). Sportive performance is considered to be very important for the psychological skills of athletes. It is thought that the inner thoughts and beliefs that the athlete will give himself (sports confidence, positive self-talk, positive thinking) at the point of achieving success will increase his mental endurance and this situation can be reflected in training and/or competition (Grønset et al., 2024; Erdoğan and Kocaekşi, 2015). In this context, the effect of psychological skills alone or in interaction with each other on football players is important. In other words, within the framework of research, in addition to the football players’ high self-confidence and mental endurance levels, the presence of positive thinking skills in the football players can also cause significant increases in the athlete’s performance.

According to the results obtained from the models tested, it was determined that the positive thinking variable of football players had a moderate positive effect on challenge and the challenge variable had a moderate positive effect on the perception of excellent performance, whereas the positive thinking variable of football players had a moderate negative effect on threat and the threat variable had a moderate negative effect on the perception of excellent performance. Therefore, it was found that the feelings of challenge and threat mediated the relationship between the two variables and supported the study hypotheses. However, when the studies in the literature are reviewed, it is seen that there is a limited number of studies on the perception of challenge and threat in sport.

Williams and Cumming (2012) examined the relationship between athletes’ imagery skills and challenge-threat perceptions. As a result of this study, it was determined that imagery was positively related to challenge perception and negatively related to threat perception. In the study conducted by Cankurtaran (2021) with various athlete groups, it was reported that the higher the fear of performance failure of athletes, the higher their perception of threat. Moore et al. (2013) applied challenge and threat manipulations to two groups of experienced golfers during their golf strokes. They reported that the challenge group performed better than the threat group and that it is important to consider the effect of competitive pressure on motor performance. In another study, Türkyılmaz (2019) reported that as the mental endurance of football players increased, the increase in their perception of challenge and the decrease in their perception of threat were statistically related. In general, it is observed that both mental endurance levels and challenge-threat perceptions of athletes are effective in their performances. Theory of challenge and threat situations in athletes suggests that there is a linear relationship between athletes’ competitive stress and struggle and threat. In particular, the theory states that when self-efficacy is high, considering the environment in which competition takes place, athletes perceive the event as challenge; and when self-efficacy is low, they perceive it as threat. While challenge is associated with positive and negative moods, threat is associated only with negative moods (Jones et al., 2009; Yarayan et al., 2022). Within the framework of this information, it is possible to say that the psychological states of athletes are also important in addition to their physical, technical and tactical aspects.

Finally, it was determined that the positive thinking skills, and perceptions of excellent performance of football players are above average. It was also determined that challenge emotions are above average and threat emotions are under average. it has been determined that positive thinking skills of football players positively affect their perceptions of excellent performance, and the feelings of challenge and threat that they may experience on the field play a mediating role in the relationship between positive thinking skills and perceptions of excellent performance. In line with this information, hypotheses H1 and H1a were accepted.

This is thought to be due to the fact that the football players competing in Turkey’s regional amateur league is generally capable of meeting the psychological and physiological responses required by the league.

This research was conducted exclusively with football players who meet the following criteria:

Currently participating in the regional amateur league across Turkey in the 2023–2024 season.

Data were collected using the personal information form, the positive thinking skill, the challenge and threat in sport scale, and the performance perfectionism scale for sport. Variables from the Personal Information Form such as age, sport age, position, and professional background were examined in this study.

Furthermore, since the study was designed using a correlational survey model, data were collected within a specific time frame, which limits the ability to establish causal relationships based on the obtained data.