No abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the professional footballers’ career in K league through their debut age and year. Data set of 3,287 footballers from 1983 to 2021 was collected and utilized for this study. Their debut age has been decreased since the league started and there were the biggest statistical differences between early period(EP) and developmental period(DP)(p<.05). There were statistical differences in the number of match played among sub-variables of debut age and year. The players in youngest cohort and the players in DP cohort played the most number of matches respectively. Their debut age and year had negative causation with the number of match played. These results means that the earlier player debuts, the more matches they can play in K league. Also, the number of football club and league structure will have restrictively impact on K league players career due to the current stable number of club and situation of league structure.