Influence of the selection level, age and playing position on relative age effects in Swiss women’s soccer

Romann, Michael; Fuchslocher, Jörg (2011). Influence of the selection level, age and playing position on relative age effects in Swiss women’s soccer Talent Development & Excellence, 3(2), pp. 239-247. International Research Association for Talent Development & Excellence

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Relative age effects (RAEs) refer to age differences in the same selection year. In this study, 6,229 female soccer players representing the entire Swiss female soccer population were evaluated to determine the prevalence of RAEs in Swiss women’s soccer. Significant RAEs existed in the self-selected extracurricular (n = 2987) soccer teams and the subgroup of talent development teams (n = 450) in the 10 to14 age category. No significant RAEs were found for players 15 years of age or older (n = 3242) and the subgroup of all national teams (n = 239). Additionally, significantly stronger RAEs were observed in defenders and goalkeepers compared to midfielders in national teams. Our findings show that in Switzerland, RAEs apparently influence the self selection and talent selection processes of women’s soccer in the 10 to 14 age category. However, in contrast to male soccer we found no RAEs in elite women’s soccer teams.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen SFISM > EHSM - Leistungssport > Trainingswissenschaft
Name:	Romann, Michael0000-0003-4139-2955 and Fuchslocher, Jörg
ISSN:	1869-0459 (Print) 1869-2885 (Online)
Publisher:	International Research Association for Talent Development & Excellence
Language:	English
Submitter:	Service Account
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2021 15:28
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2021 02:18
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Talent development Selection Female soccer Birth date Relative age effect
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.11049
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/11049