This study analyzes what are the most common emotions of players in unfavourable results in a match and if there are a differential use of regulation strategies used depending on the emotion experienced. We analyze the functionality of the different strategies that players both individually and collectively and the coach use to regulate these emotional experiences. For the study we selected 8 teams (4 female and 4 male) professional categories corresponding to different sports: Soccer, basketball, hockey and handball. All players responded a semi-structured interview about the type of emotions experienced in unfavourable situations, emotional regulation strategies used and the valuation of the feature's functionality. Also we administered a questionnaire of emotion regulation strategies (ERQ). The qualitative data analysis was performed with inductive categorization process and the subsequent inferential analysis. For the quantitative analysis we used testing (T) for the same sample. The results showed the connexion between the type of experimented emotion in unfavourable results and the differential use of regulation strategies. It was found that cognitive reappraisal and positive sharing of emotions are the most functional perceived strategies in this situations. © 2014: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia.