Impacto do tamanho corporal, da idade relativa e do índice de desenvolvimento humano sobre a participação de futebolistas brasileiros na Liga dos Campeões da UEFA (Impact of body size, relative age, and human development index on the participation of Bra

Abstract

Resumo: O presente estudo investigou os efeitos do tamanho corporal, da idade relativa (IR) e do índice de desenvolvimento humano (IDH) sobre a ascensão profissional de futebolistas brasileiros atuando na Europa. A amostra foi constituída por 309 jogadores brasileiros atuando nas 10 principais ligas europeias, conforme ranking de coeficientes de clubes da UEFA. Os dados foram coletados nos sites oficiais dos clubes, e a ascensão profissional foi classificada de acordo com o nível de participação nos campeonatos europeus. Foram aplicados os testes de Correlação de Spearman e a Regressão Logística Multinomial (p ≤ 0,05). Os jogadores nascidos no 2º trimestre do ano, bem como àqueles nascidos no 3º trimestre, têm as chances de jogar a Liga dos Campeões, comparativamente à Liga Europa, aumentadas em 84% e 67%, respectivamente, em relação aos nascidos no 4º trimestre (p = 0,01). Além disso, identificou-se que a cada 1 cm de estatura, aumenta-se em 7% as chances de o jogador atuar em uma equipe de escalão inferior (p = 0,03). Conclui-se que a IR e o tamanho corporal influenciam a ascensão profissional dos futebolistas brasileiros atuando na Europa, enquanto o IDH do local de nascimento apresenta limitado impacto sobre o nível de competição disputada por estes jogadores.
 Abstract: The present study investigated the effects of body size, relative age (RA), and human development index (HDI) on the professional rise of Brazilian soccer players playing in Europe. The sample consisted of 309 Brazilian players in the top 10 European leagues, according to the ranking of UEFA club coefficients. The data were collected on the official websites of the clubs, and professional advancement was classified according to the level of participation in the European championships. Spearman's Correlation and Multinomial Logistic Regression tests (p ≤ 0.05) were applied. Players born in the 2nd quarter of the year, as well as those born in the 3rd quarter, have the chance to play the Champions League, compared to the Europa League, increased by 84% and 67%, respectively, compared to those born in the 4th quarter (p = 0.01). In addition, it was identified that for every 1 cm of height, the chances of the player acting in a lower level team increased by 7% (p = 0.03). It is concluded that the RA and body size influence the professional rise of Brazilian soccer players working in Europe, while the HDI of the place of birth has limited impact on the level of competition disputed by these players. 
 Resumen: El presente estudio investigó los efectos del tamaño corporal, la edad relativa (IR) y el índice de desarrollo humano (IDH) en el crecimiento profesional de los futbolistas brasileños que trabajan en Europa. La muestra consistió en 309 jugadores brasileños que juegan en las 10 mejores ligas europeas, según el ranking de coeficientes de clubes de la UEFA. Los datos se recopilaron en los sitios web oficiales de los clubes, y el avance profesional se clasificó según el nivel de participación en los campeonatos europeos. Se aplicaron pruebas de ANOVA unidireccional, correlación de Spearman y regresión logística multinomial (p ≤ 0.05). Los jugadores nacidos en el segundo trimestre del año, así como los nacidos en el tercer trimestre, tienen la oportunidad de jugar la Liga de Campeones, en comparación con la Liga de Europa, aumentó en un 84% y 67%, respectivamente, en comparación con los nacidos en el cuarto trimestre (p = 0.01). Además, se identificó que, por cada 1 cm de altura, las posibilidades de que el jugador actúe en un equipo de nivel inferior aumentaron en 7% (p = 0.03). Se concluye que el IR y el tamaño del cuerpo influyen en el ascenso profesional de los futbolistas brasileños que trabajan en Europa, mientras que el IDH del lugar de nacimiento tiene un impacto limitado en el nivel de competencia disputado por estos jugadores.

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

“…The diversity in the use of statistical tests for the study of the RAE determines that there is indeed a great diversity in the analysis of the data. Likewise, it is recognized that there are other specific models that have been used such as Poisson regression (Doyle & Bottomley, 2019;Pérez-González, León-Quismondo, Bonal, Burillo & Fernández-Luna, 2021), multinomial logistic regression (Mendes et al, 2021) and generalized linear mixed models. The Chi-square test and Odds ratio are still the most commonly used in most studies and for the determination of effect size the Cohen's d test was the most frequently found.…”

Relative Age Effect on basketball: implications for the selection of successful players (Efecto de la edad relativa en el baloncesto: implicaciones para la selección de jugadores exitosos)

“…Several sports modalities (ice hockey, basketball, soccer) group players into categories according to their age (Ibãnéz et al, 2018;Ramos-Filho & Ferreira, 2020). Although the method is necessary for better organization of sports competitions (Rubajczyk et al, 2017), the age difference between players of the same sports category varies from physical and psychological maturity, to cognitive and social issues which may interfere in performance and competitions (Oliveira et al, 2017;Mendes et al,2021;Muñoz et al, 2021).…”

“…In this case, the HDI aims to represent a general measure of human development in several aspects, such as quality of life, education, and economics (PNUD, 2019). Such information can contribute to the understanding of possible influences of the context in the sports career of athletes (Mendes et al, 2021), since the literature presents discrepancies with regard to the context and the best size of the environment in the training of players in different sports, countries and cultures .…”