Os EFEITOS DA IDADE RELATIVA SOBRE A PARTICIPAÇÃO DE ATLETAS DE FUTEBOL PROFISSIONAL NO ESTADO DO ESPÍRITO SANTO

Efeitos da Idade Relativa em atletas de Futebol Profissional

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze the relative age effect on the starting players of all 172 matches of the three competitions of the professional soccer season of the state of Espírito Santo in 2021. Moreover, we studied the relative age effects among the four teams with the worst and best performances. We distributed the athletes according to their month of birth in four quartiles: Q1 (Jan-Mar), Q2 (Apr-Jun), Q3 (Jul-Sep) and Q4 (Oct-Dec). All comparisons between semesters showed significant differences, favoring those born in the first months of the year, except for data from the best performing teams in one of the competitions (Espírito Santo Cup), in which the unbalance in distribution was inverted. The relative age effect also favored the athletes of the four worst performing teams born in the first months. Besides, the results showed an unbalance in the distribution of athletes per quartile in all competitions, which favored those born in the first months of the year. We also observed a statistical difference in the distribution of those born in the last quartile (Q4) compared to all other quartiles in all competitions, showing that the athletes in this condition had their competitiveness jeopardized. These results can generate classification parameters for managers and coaches to plan the assembly of their squads and enable sports organizations to develop a competitive schedule that offers more opportunities to those born in the final months.