Identification of relevant anthropometric indicators in youth male soccer players

Abstract

This study aimed to identify key body composition traits that differentiate young soccer players. Fifty-nine male athletes (age: 15.97 ± 0.49 years) from a soccer academy participated in this research. The selected participants underwent standardized physical and anthropometric assessments. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the most essential physical variables relevant to the sport, with a recommended factor loading of > 0.7. To refine factor selection, a Parallel Analysis (PA) was conducted. The reliability of the extracted factors was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Following Varimax rotation, the PCA revealed three principal components (PCs) with eigenvalues greater than 1. However, the PA further reduced the number of extracted PCs to two. The retained components accounted for 71.23% of the total variance. Each of the two components contained variables selected based on their high factor loadings. The first PC demonstrated strong loadings from mid-thigh girth (0.867), body fat percentage (0.851), thigh girth (0.848), and calf girth (0.825). The second PC highlighted lower limb length (0.896), standing height (0.782), sitting height (0.773), and thigh length (0.736). The reliability of the extracted PCs was confirmed, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.866 and 0.789 for the first and second PCs, respectively.