Abstract
Relative Age Effect (RAE) is the breakdown by both age grouping and dates of birth of athletes. In the past 20 years the existence of this effect has been shown with higher or smaller impact in multiple sports, including soccer. The purpose of this study was to identify the existence of RAE in European soccer players. The sample included 841 elite soccer players who were participants in the UEFA European Soccer Championship in different categories. The professional category (n = 368), U-19 (n = 144) and U-17 (n = 145) were in 2012, and U-21 was in 2011 (n = 184). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Levene test recommended the use of nonparametric statistics. The results obtained by the square test ( the Kruskal-Wallis test and Cohen’s effect sizes revealed the existence of RAE (χ2 = 17.829, p < 0.001; d = 0.30), with the size of their different effects depending on their category or qualifying round achieved by the national team and the existence of significance in the observed differences by category. Therefore, we could continue examining RAE which is present in elite soccer, and could be considered a factor that influences performance of the national teams tested. RAE was not evident in the professional teams analysed, however it was present in the three lower categories analysed (youth categories), with its influence being greater on younger age categories (U-17).
Highlights
The Relative Age Effect (RAE) refers to ‘asymmetry in the birth-date distribution favouring players born early in the selection year and discriminating against participants born later in the year’ (Helsen et al, 2012)
The present study analysed the influence of RAE within each group of players in the Football Eurocup: Elite, U-21, U-19 and U-17
It is observed that RAE is present in professional soccer and seems to have some influence on the final result of the competition as all teams reaching the final stages in the tournament are those having a bigger RAE among its players; RAE is related to athletic performance
Summary
The Relative Age Effect (RAE) refers to ‘asymmetry in the birth-date distribution favouring players born early in the selection year and discriminating against participants born later in the year’ (Helsen et al, 2012). Due to the number and quality of the studies, there are two sports which stand out among others: soccer and ice hockey — the last one being the first in this research field of sport (Grondin et al, 1984). Grondin et al (1984) were the first authors who considered a possible relationship between the month of birth and the sports performance, having analysed volleyball and ice hockey teams at a recreational, competitive and senior level during the 1981-1982 season. ‘a child born at the beginning of a given year will be almost 12 months older than another athlete born at the end of the same year. They will compete together’ (Gil et al, 2014)
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