Abstract
Abstract Aims: The specific aims of this study were to characterize player turnover on FIFA Women’s World Cup (1991-2015), and to explore the relationship between the turnover rate and team performance. Methods: We analyzed the seven national teams that participated in all of the seasons of the women’s World Cup: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. The full name of the players was used to analyze which athlete was maintained or substituted from a season to another. The names of the players were retrieved from the official FIFA website. Player turnover was measured by the percentage of players that were on a team in one season and were not on the roster on the following edition. The performance was measured by the final classification of the teams. Results: The results showed that most players participated only in one season of the championship. An average rate of 53% of player turnover per team was found by edition, which represents, approximately, 13 substituted athletes. Medalist teams showed lower player turnover (48%) compared to the non-medalist teams (57%) (p-value=0.0305; ES=0.69). Furthermore, teams that were classified for the quarterfinals decreased player turnover in the next season (p-value=0.0408, ES=0.89), maintaining a good performance (χ²=4.114, p-value=0.042). We could not find any influence of higher turnover rates on team performance (χ²=0.535, p-value=0.464). Conclusion: The present study found that lower rates of player turnover may be beneficial for team performance in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. When successful teams decrease their turnover rate, sports performance seems to be maintained.
Highlights
On the eve of the World Cups, sports fans are often eager to meet the summoned players that will compose the national team and represent their country
No significant difference was found in player turnover between the national teams (p-value=0.546)
The main findings of this study showed that i) most of the players participated in only one season of the championship; ii) the medalist teams present a lower player turnover compared to the non-medalist teams; iii) the winning teams show a significant decrease in turnover rates from the winning season to the in which the good performance is maintained
Summary
On the eve of the World Cups, sports fans are often eager to meet the summoned players that will compose the national team and represent their country. The coaching side of each sports fan emerges, and each individual selects 22 players aiming at maximizing the national team performance. This process may be guided by the previous summoning and by the conventional wisdom saying “don’t change a winning team”. Great attention is given to the process of selecting and dismissing athletes when aiming to improve the sport and/or financial performance This process of the outflow and inflow of people from an organization is called turnover[1] and has been widely explored in the management and applied psychology research[2,3]. The turnover is a usual process in team sports in general, the phenomenon has not received the same attention by sports scientists
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
