The game variants in Europe. Trends and perspectives during youth competitive stages

Abstract

-Aims:The aim of this study was to verify how European countries manage the type of game variants and their frequency along youth competitive stages. Methods: Data were collected from the official rules of youth football championships. To identify countries homogenous groups according to their game variants, Two Step Cluster Analysis procedure was used while a nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the game variants distribution in each Cluster. In order to correlate the game variants with age groups, a Chi-Square independence test and a Spearman ordinal correlation coefficient were used. Results: The results showed there were five clusters with significant differences in their game variants distribution (X 2 kw (4) = 22.149; p<0.001; n = 30) and a significant correlation between age group and game variant (χ 2 (63) = 477.724; p<0.001; n = 30). Specifically, the most used game variants in each age group were the five-a-side (F5) in Under-8; the nine-a-side (F9) in Under-12; the seven-a-side (F7) in Under-9 and Under10; and the eleven-a-side (F11) in and above Under-13. Conclusion: These results may contribute to understand the different country perspectives about the competitive game variants of youth football within the European space and its relation with diverse learning philosophies and pathways.

Positioning and displacement patterns of young players during 5v5, 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11 soccer matches

“…The strategy which is being used by most European countries is to progressively increase the number of players and the pitch size up to the 11v11 game format. For instance, from Under-8 (U8) up to Under-14 (U14) agegroups, the most widely used game formats are being the 5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11 respectively (Brito, Duarte, Diniz, Maia, & Garganta, 2017). Further, it´s also common to find (e.g.…”

Analysis of tactical behavior in full- and small-sided games: Comparing professional and youth academy athletes to enhance player development in soccer

“…The youth academy players participating in this study are still not capable of covering – both physically and mentally – the entire length of an official soccer field, 11 as they are undergoing a period in which these competencies are still under development. 8,26 These aspects engender some unique behavioral features, such as the characteristics of the offensive sequences, as during youth academy matches, regardless of their format, offensive sequences (per minute) were more frequent and of shorter duration. These results are somewhat analogous to those reported by Olthof, Frencken & Lemmink, 27 as the authors observed that in games played in larger dimensions, teams maintained possession for longer periods.…”

Hubungan Antara Persepsi Terhadap Kohesivitas Kelompok dengan Motivasi Berprestasi pada Atlet Sepak Bola

“…Sedangkan aspek-aspek motivasi berprestasi yaitu mengambil tanggung jawab pribadi atas perbuatannya, mencari feedback (umpan balik) tentang perbuatannya, kecenderungan untuk memilih risiko yang moderat atau sedang dalam melakukan dan berusaha melakukan sesuatu dengan cara baru (inovatif) dan kreatif. Pada bulan April tahun 2017 Tim Nasional Indonesia berada di peringkat 175 menurut Federation International Football Association (Brito et al, 2017). Peringkat Indonesia hanya menduduki di posisi 38 zona asia.…”