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The absence of changes in the relative age effect present an opportunity for lower income soccer clubs to be more efficient than Europe’s elite.

Craig, Thomas P.; Enright, Kevin; Maughan, Patrick; Abbott, Will; Navarro, Javier Fernandez

Authors

Kevin Enright

Patrick Maughan

Will Abbott

Javier Fernandez Navarro



Abstract

An overrepresentation of athletes born earlier in the year compared with those born later in the year is known as the relative age effect (RAE). This is perceived to be due to physical selection bias which leads to higher degrees of exposure to coaching, physical training and competition at a younger age. Even with increasing knowledge and established interventions, clubs in Europe’s top leagues still present a strong RAE. Scottish clubs have limited resources in comparison meaning academy efficiency is paramount. The main study aim was to assess changes in the RAE over a ten-year period in Scottish soccer. A secondary aim was to establish if physical differences exist across each quarter due to findings in English academy players that maturation status and not RAE is the main discrepancy for physicality. A retrospective analysis of 512 players from a Scottish academy over a ten year period was granted ethical approval. The impact of relative age effect was assessed against anthropometric and physical characteristics. The range of players in each quarter was Q1 37.0–42.9% versus Q2 22.8–32.4%, Q3 11.9–26.0% and Q4 7.1–14.3% with no impact of time on RAE profiles. Odds Ratio analysis indicate a greater chance of selection within the academy when assessing Q1vsQ4 players quarter comparisons (ranging 3.2–5.2 times more likely to be signed). When controlling for age group, multilevel modelling showed there were no significant differences across quarters in physical measures with the exception of a trivial CMJ difference. The lack of progression in the RAE profiles is disappointing however presents an opportunity for increased efficiency. By viewing the RAE as an under representation of Q4 players and using established corrective procedures, this can contribute to the unnecessary release of players from academies due to RAE, thus addressing challenges in financially restricted environments that resource rich environments such as Europe’s elite have not yet overcome.

Citation

CRAIG, T.P., ENRIGHT, K., MAUGHAN, P., ABBOTT, W. and NAVARRO, J.F. 2025. The absence of changes in the relative age effect present an opportunity for lower income soccer clubs to be more efficient than Europe's elite. PLoS One [online] 20(5), article number e0323971. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323971

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 16, 2025
Online Publication Date May 20, 2025
Publication Date May 31, 2025
Deposit Date May 29, 2025
Publicly Available Date May 29, 2025
Journal PLOS One
Electronic ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 5
Article Number e0323971
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323971
Keywords Sports; Age groups; Finance; Anthropometry; Running; Analysis of variance; Children; Sports science
Public URL https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2848598
Related Public URLs https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2849187 (Supplementary material associated with this output)

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CRAIG 2025 The absence of changes (VOR) (492 Kb)
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Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2025 Craig et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.




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