Introduction: Group cohesion has shown to positively correlate with adherence in sport teams, role involvement, adherence to group norms, collective efficacy and team performance.The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a team building intervention on team cohesion in teams of young elite football players.

Method: One hundred and fifty two male football players aged 12 to 19 were enrolled in the study (mean age = 15.69, SD = 1.75). Four teams were assigned to an intervention group (n = 74) and four teams to a control group (n = 78). A Danish version of the Group Environment Questionnaire (Carron, Widmeyer & Brawley, 2002) measures four dimensions of team cohesion, one of these being Group Integration - Social, and it was administered at baseline (T1), six weeks after intervention start (T2), and at the end of the intervention, after twelve weeks (T3).The intervention sessions took place once per week for 12 weeks and lasted 60 minutes each.The aim of the sessions was to increase overall team cohesion through individual exercises, discussions in small groups, discussions with the whole team and team building exercises.

Results: A paired samples t-test revealed that Group Integration - Social significantly increased from T2 to T3 in the intervention group, but not in the control group (0.33, p = 0.46, r = 0.25).

Discussion: The results suggest that team building can be used as an effective method to increase social group integration in young elite football teams.