Footballers of the Future
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Footballers of the Future
05.07.2010

Underage footballers born in the early part of the year are more likely to be selected to play at an elite level according to UCC Researchers.

In a research project carried out by Robbie Butler of UCC’s Department of Economics and his brother, David (a final year Commerce student at UCC), the findings show that there is a bias towards those born earlier in a selection year within organised football. “We have found that those born from January to March of any given calendar year have the added physical, cognitive and social advantages over their younger peers when assembled collectively”, explained David.  “This is the only piece of Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 research done on this scale and includes both male and female players.  The implications of the research can be considered both from a public health perspective when considering drop-out rates from organised football and furthermore in attempts to unearth increasingly talented footballers to improve performance”, he said.

The researchers based their findings on research conducted on the monthly birth distribution of European U-21, U-19 and U-17 footballers from 2007-2009. These findings question the opportunities open to children born at different times in the calendar year and may go some way to explaining dropout rates in football, which tend to start from the age of 11.

The research recommends a reframing of the environment in which children play underage football to limit advantages of physique at this level. “Education of coaches and mentors is essential. Underage football should concentrate on the development of children. The short term goals of winning should not come before player development”, said Robbie.

Robbie and David presented their research titled “Relative Age Effects in Association Football” to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) earlier this week with High Performance Director Wim Koevermans in attendance. The work has also been presented at University College Cork, the University of Limerick and at the 3rd International Conference in Football and Psychology, The University of London.

Picture Back Row L-R: Robbie Butler, Department of Economics, UCC; John Morling; U-15 and U-16 Republic of Ireland International Manager
Front row L-R: David Butler; BComm IV UCC, Wim Koevermans; High Performance Director for the FAI and member of the winning Dutch national squad at 1988 European Championships

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