Influences of player nationality, playing position, and height on relative age effects at women's under-17 FIFA World Cup

Abstract

Previous research has shown that young male soccer players who are born early in a cohort are overrepresented on elite soccer teams. Selection advantages such as this have been termed 'relative age effects' (RAEs). Few studies have examined RAEs in elite women's youth soccer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of RAEs in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) U-17 Women's World Cup competition and their link to playing positions. In the entire cohort of 672 players, we found significant RAEs in the geographical zones of Europe and North and Central America, no RAEs in the zones of Asia, Oceania, and South America, and significant inverse RAEs in the zone of Africa. Additionally, significant RAEs were found for goalkeepers and defenders from Europe and North and Central America. Inverse RAEs occurred for African goalkeepers, defenders, and strikers. Goalkeepers of all zones were significantly taller than players of all other playing positions. The results of this study show that remarkable RAEs do exist at elite women's youth soccer. Similar to men's soccer, there is a bias toward the inclusion of relatively older players, and a link between RAEs and playing positions.

A Gaussian mixture clustering model for characterizing football players using the EA Sports' FIFA video game system. [Modelo basado en agrupamiento de mixturas Gaussianas para caracterizar futbolistas utilizando el sistema de videojuegos FIFA de EA Sports].

“…On the other hand, our results were in agreement with previous studies, where authors hypothesized that there are significant differences in football players related to their physical characteristics and playing position (Pau, Ibba, Leban, & Scorcu, 2014;Romann & Fuchslocher, 2013). In this sense, players with good records of positioning and sprint speed tend to be, on average, classified as forwards, while other skills such as long and short passing are more specific of defenders.…”

Relative age effects in Australian Football League National Draftees

“…For example, recent analyses of FIFA U17 soccer World Cups revealed that despite an overall trend towards players born in the first part of the selection year, a reverse RAE existed for players representing African nations. The exact mechanism for this observation is unknown; however, the authors noted the potential erroneous reporting of birth dates from this region may have confounded the results (Romann & Fuchslocher, 2012;Williams, 2010). Returning to the present results, the factors that may account for reverse RAE in mature age draftees are not clear; however, it is possible that this group of players matured comparatively later than their older counterparts, which may have reduced their chances of selection in representative teams during the underage talent pathway.…”

“…However, the present study demonstrates the existence of a reverse RAE in a particular cohort of athletes involved in a physically demanding sport where RAEs are strongly present. Relatively few studies have reported a reverse RAE for a specific group within a population where typical RAEs exist (Romann & Fuchslocher, 2012;Schorer et al, 2009;Williams, 2010). For example, recent analyses of FIFA U17 soccer World Cups revealed that despite an overall trend towards players born in the first part of the selection year, a reverse RAE existed for players representing African nations.…”

“…In these cases, it has been suggested that success is more closely related with technical proficiency rather than advanced physical attributes (Van Rossum, 2006). In addition, there have been reports of reverse RAEs occurring within certain contextsrelated to nationality, gender, age or playing position -in athletic sports where traditional RAEs are predominant (Delorme, Boiché, & Raspaud, 2010b;Romann & Fuchslocher, 2012;Schorer, Cobley, Büsch, Bräutigam, & Baker, 2009;Williams, 2010). Collectively, these studies suggest that certain contextual factors can influence the RAE in traditional domains and, in some cases, subgroups may exist which defy the typical birth distribution biases in these sports.…”

The Need to Consider Relative Age Effects in Women's Talent Development Process

“…In some technical sports where low weight and height is an advantage, an overrepresentation of athletes born at the end of the competition year has been observed. This special phenomenon of RAEs has been termed "reverse" or "inverse" RAE in the current literature, to emphasize the reversed trend compared to the traditional RAE ( Baxter-Jones, Helms, Maff ulli, Baines-Preece, & Preece, 1995 ;Delorme & Raspaud, 2009 ;Romann & Fuchslocher, 2011, 2013aGibbs, 652 Jarvis, & Dufur, 2012 ;Coutts, Kempton, & Vaeyens, 2014 ;Wattie, Tietjens, Cobley, Schorer, Baker, & Kurz, 2014 ).…”