Relative age effect and age of peak performance: an analysis of women's football players in the Olympic games (1996-2016)

Abstract

Aim:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative age effect and the age of peak performance of women's football players who participated in the Olympic Games from 1996 to 2016.

Methods:

Birth dates, playing positions, and nationality of all players registered in women's football competition in the Olympic Games (1996 to 2016) were collected. All data used in this study were obtained from the official website of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (www.fifa.com). The sample size of the study comprised 1,203 players.

Results:

We found an average age of 25.1 ± 4.0 years old and a significant increase of 1.4 years in the average age from 1996 (25.0 ± 3.9 years old) to 2016 (26.4 ± 3.7 years old) (p < 0.001). The comparison of the players’ age between playing positions reveals that the goalkeepers are the oldest players (26.2 ± 4.4 years) and the forwards are the youngest players (24.4 ± 3.8 years) (p < 0.001). The RAE for women's football players showed neither effect over the years nor in different playing positions.

Conclusion:

We found an aging trend in women's football in the past two decades and different ages of peak performance among the playing positions. The current findings provide valuable information to coaches and professionals to program long-term training and to promote athletes’ progression towards their performance targets.

Keywords
elite sport; development; athlete selection; maturation; women's sport