Selecting players for youth national teams – a question of birth month and reselection?

• Published in: Science & sports 2015-12, Vol.30 (6), p.314-320
• Main Author: Saether, SA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activité musculaire; Development; Ligament croisé antérieur; Relative age effect; Soccer; Talent; Youth; Électromyographie
• ISSN: 0765-1597
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scispo.2015.04.005

The relative age effect (RAE) has been documented to be present in the selection of national youth soccer players. Even so, few studies have documented the long-term effect on talent development. The aim of this study is to examine RAE among one cohort of Norwegian national youth soccer players. A second objective was to investigate the selection process. Participants were 92 male players born in 1991 selected for one or more U15-U19 national team match in 2006–2010. The results are presented with basic descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages. Chi2 tests were performed to compare differences between the observed and expected birth rate distribution across the four quarters of the Norwegian soccer year. The significance level of .05 was selected to determine statistical significance. The results showed that over 46% of the players were born in the first quartile. Furthermore, highlighting a large degree of replacement of players, where approximately 62% was selected for 1 or 2 years in the period, and only 22% of the selected players in 2010 had been selected earlier years. Potential explanations of this replacement will be discussed. This study supports the conclusion that RAE is a major factor in the selection of youth national team soccer players. However, it questions both the motivation hypothesis and the self-fulfilling prophecy hypothesis, associated with selection to a youth national team. Because of the high degree of exchange of players in the period, the advantages of early selection could be smaller than earlier expected in a talent development perspective. L’effet de l’âge relatif (RAE) a été documenté pour être présenté dans la sélection des jeunes joueurs de football nationaux, même si, peu d’études ont documenté l’effet à long terme sur le développement des talents. Le but de cette étude est d’examiner RAE parmi une cohorte de jeunes joueurs norvégiens de football nationaux. Un deuxième objectif était d’enquêter sur le processus de sélection. Les participants étaient 92 joueurs masculins nés en 1991 sélectionnés pour une ou plusieurs U15-U19 match de l’équipe nationale en 2006–2010. Les résultats sont présentés avec les statistiques descriptives de base telles que le nombre de fréquences et pourcentage. Des tests du Chi2 ont été effectués pour comparer les différences entre la distribution de la natalité observée et attendue dans les quatre trimestres de l’année du football anglais. La signification au niveau de 0,05