Age and Maturation Matter in Youth Elite Soccer, but Depending on Competitive Level and Gender

Gines, Honorato José; Huertas, Florentino; Calvo, Tomás García; Bordón, José Carlos Ponce; Figueiredo, A.; Ballester, Rafael

doi:10.3390/ijerph20032015

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Frontiers in Physiology frontiersin.org 2023; Pezoa-Fuentes et al, 2023), sports (Müller et al, 2017;Gryko, 2021) and especially in young soccer players (Asadi et al, 2018;Müller et al, 2018;Peña-González et al, 2022;Ginés et al, 2023). These evidences found in this study may be important for coaches, technicians, physicians, physiotherapists, and directors of youth soccer academies, as the analysis of BC and PF should be analyzed by MS and not by CA.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 56%

Reference values for body composition and physical fitness of young Brazilian elite soccer players

Portella,

Vidal-Espinoza,

Sulla-Torres

et al. 2023

Front. Physiol.

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Objective: a) to verify whether body composition and physical fitness should be analyzed by chronological age and/or maturity stage in young Brazilian soccer players and b) to propose reference values for the evaluation of body composition and physical fitness by maturity stage in elite soccer players.Methods: A descriptive-correlational study was carried out in 206 young Brazilian soccer players (11–16 years old). The sample selection was non-probabilistic by convenience. Weight and standing height were evaluated. Body composition (BC) was assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). BC indicators [(percent fat (%F), Fat-free mass (FFM), Fat mass (FM) and Bone mass (BM)] were extracted. For physical fitness (PF), we applied the Flexibility (cm) sit and reach tests, explosive strength tests [Counter Movement Jump CMJ (cm) and horizontal jump HJ (cm)], speed [Speed 10, 20, 30 and 40 m (seconds)] and Yo-Yo endurance level I test. Percentiles were constructed for BC and PF using the LMS method [L (Lambda; skewness), M (Mu; median) and S (Sigma; coefficient of variation)].Results: The explanatory power between chronological age (CA) with BC was: FM (R2 = 0.03%), FFM (R2 = 0.66%) and BM (R2 = 0.62%), while between maturity status (MS) with BC were: FM (R2 = 0.04%), FFM (R2 = 0.71%) and BM (R2 = 0.66). The explanatory power between the CA with the physical fitness tests ranged from: (R2 = 0.22–0.62%). While between MS with physical fitness the values ranged from: (R2 = 0.23–0.64%). Percentiles per MS (P3, P5, P10, P15, P25, P50, P75, P85, P90, P95 and P97) were proposed for both BC and PF.Conclusion: The results of the study have shown that the evaluation of BC and PF of young soccer players should be performed by controlling for MS rather than for CA. The inclusion of a non-invasive method to control MS by means of percentiles during puberty may contribute to the development of retention and exclusion of young soccer players, thus, they may have a better chance of achieving sporting success.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 56%

Reference values for body composition and physical fitness of young Brazilian elite soccer players

Portella,

Vidal-Espinoza,

Sulla-Torres

et al. 2023

Front. Physiol.

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“…Indeed, a recent study conducted on Spanish youth soccer demonstrated how RAEs are not associated with players’ likelihood of accessing the next developmental stage [ 70 ]. Moreover, Ginés et al [ 71 ] also showed how, in Spanish male academy soccer, coaches’ selections are not influenced by chronological age, with research conducted by Hill et al [ 26 ] revealing it was not a significant predictor of perceived performance when compared to the biological maturation effect. In line with this, Part 2 of this study highlighted players’ ability to develop into Level 1 players once a senior was not influenced by their relative age, thus indicating early born overrepresentation at the senior level may only be attributed to the knock-on effect (i.e., players selected from a pool of players already affected by RAEs) [ 72 , 73 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birth Advantages in Male Italian Soccer: How They Influence Players Youth Career and Their Future Career Status

Morganti,

Brustio,

Ruscello

et al. 2024

Sports

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Soccer organizations generally adopt deterministic models within their talent pathways. In this framework, early ability and results are emphasized, leading to selection biases, such as birth advantages (i.e., relative age effects and birthplace effects), which research has shown affect both early developmental experiences and continued sporting involvement. Accordingly, this study aimed to (a) provide further test of birth advantages in Italian youth soccer by exploring the birth quarter (BQ) and birthplace (BP) distribution of 1050 male Italian players born between 1999 and 2001 who competed in the national U17 championship throughout the 2015–16 season and (b) investigate how birth advantages influenced selected players’ future career status. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests revealed early born players, and players born in North Italy were overrepresented at the youth level (p-values < 0.0001). Successive prospective analysis revealed only 18% of players developed into professional-level soccer players. Chi-square tests of independence indicated that players’ BP was associated with their future career status (p < 0.0001), whereas their BQ was not (p = 0.459). Odds ratios showed players born in North Italy were five times more likely to complete the youth-to-senior transition than those born in South Italy. These findings highlighted environmental factors influence Italian players’ early developmental experiences and their future career status.

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“…However, another study did not find RAE in both male and female senior elite beach handball athletes and failed to establish an association with competitive success as determined by the final position achieved in world championships (Savassi et al, 2020). On the other hand, the study developed by Ginés et al (2023) that, although age and maturation are important in elite youth soccer, there are other important factors that are related to the competitive level and gender of the athletes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Scientific production on the relative age effect in sport: bibliometric analysis of the last 9 years (2015-2023)

Becerra Patiño,

Varón-Murcia,

Cárdenas-Contreras

et al. 2024

Retos

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Objective. To conduct a bibliometric analysis of scientific production regarding the relative age effect in sport, using data from the PubMed and Scopus databases spanning from January 1, 2015, to April 30, 2023. Methodology. It was based on a descriptive bibliometric analysis of the scientific production having as indicators the following categories: 1) database; 2) year of publication; 3) journal name; 4) journal country; 5) H-index; 6) SCI index (2021); 7) Quartile (Q1; Q2; Q3; Q4); 8); Number of articles per Journal; 9) Scopus citations; 10) Countries evaluated; 11) Colective sports; 12) Individual sports; 13) number of times the sample of a country was evaluated according to journals; 14) Area of knowledge; 15) Gender; 16) Number of authors; 17) Name authors; 18) Instruments used to determine the relative age effect of athletes; 19) Research approach; 20) Research design; 21) Statistical Software packcage; 22) Statistical test; 23) Languaje; 24) Sample Size. The following MeSH terms were used to search for the documents: "Sport", "relative age", "sports performance", and the search equations ("sport competition" AND "relative age effect”), ("sports talent" AND "relative age effect”), ("physical differences" AND "relative age effect”) to search for documents in the Scopus and PubMed databases, obtaining a total of 597 documents. In the end, after applying the criteria, 185 documents were accepted. Results. The number of publications per year has exhibited fluctuating behavior, with 2018 being the year with the highest production (16.09%) and 2016 the lowest (6.32%). In front of the journal, we found those with the most publications, were PloS One with 24 papers (12.97%), Sports with 15 (8.10%), and Journal of Human Kinetics with 13 (7.02%). PloS One (591) and the Journal of Sports Sciences (478) received the highest number of citations. Regarding sports, the ones with the highest number of publications are Soccer with 61 (32.90%), various sports with 24 (12.90%), and basketball with 16 documents (8.64%). Taking into account the countries evaluated, the World Cup (13.008%) and Spain (12.195%) have the highest number of documents. As for the total number of documents by area of knowledge, sports talent (25.40%), sports competition (22.70%), and sports training (15.13%) are the highest. Finally, about gender, it is found that the highest production is about men (74.26%), women-men (20.46%), and women (7.01%). Conclusions. It is concluded that the bibliometric study contributes substantially to the scientific community from the findings found in the study and the change of focus with which relative age has recently been studied. Likewise, it can guide future studies aimed at characterizing and determining the effect of relative age in sports. Key Words: relative age, sport, sports science, sports competition, sports talent

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Age and Maturation Matter in Youth Elite Soccer, but Depending on Competitive Level and Gender

Cited by 7 publications

References 76 publications

Reference values for body composition and physical fitness of young Brazilian elite soccer players

Reference values for body composition and physical fitness of young Brazilian elite soccer players

Birth Advantages in Male Italian Soccer: How They Influence Players Youth Career and Their Future Career Status

Scientific production on the relative age effect in sport: bibliometric analysis of the last 9 years (2015-2023)

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