Did You Know… In Soccer Your Success is Determined by What Month You Were Born

In the Youth Olympic Development Program (ODP), if you were born between January

and June you are more likely to be selected for the elite teams, but only if you are a male.

Although some believe that the relative age effect refers to both male and female, according to a

study done by Vincent and Glamser (2006) titled, “Gender Difference in the Relative Age Effect

Among US Olympic Development Program Youth Soccer Players,” the relative age effect

impacts youth males much more than it affects youth females. The gender difference is a vital

part to the study because it discusses the maturation process for males and females.

To determine if there was a relative age effect in both female and male ODP players they

took their sample from a very wide range of data. The study that was conducted involved 1,344

female and male ODP participants that were born in 1984. The birth dates came from the state

and regional rosters for the four USYSF regions: Region I (Northeast), Region II (Midwest),

Region III (South), Region IV (West). Also included were the birthdates of the U.S. women’s

under-19 national team pool and the under-17 men’s pool. With all the birth dates from the state,

regional and national team players, the authors believed that they had the birth dates of all the

elite soccer players born in 1984. They chose the birth year of 1984 because they believed that

soccer players of this age were performing at their most elite levels in order to obtain college

scholarships and were not susceptible to burn out or to skip camps because of other activities.

They were looking to find if there was any correlation between what month the players were

born and also how big of a role gender played in the results.

What the researchers found was that for male players the month they were born impacted

whether they were selected for the ODP team, but with females the relative age effect did not
play any role in their success. The difference between males and females is that they mature

differently, in that males reach puberty later than females. Therefore, at an older age males are

still developing. Male players can develop more muscle and possible have a significant height

advantage in the span of a year, which in turn makes them dominant and superior within their

age group. The female results were consistent with each quarter of the year. In the first quarter,

25% of births occurred; in the second quarter 26% occurred; in the third quarter 25% occurred;

and in the fourth quarter 23% occurred. Although the distribution was similar across quarters,

the authors also looked at the half-year comparisons and found a difference. Within the first half

of the year (January-June), 60% of the females were born as opposed to the 39% that were born

in the second half (July-December).

In the male study, it was very evident that the relative age effect was occurring. In the

first quarter, 37% of the players were born, with 33% born in the second quarter, 18% in the

third quarter and 12% in the fourth. That then translated into 69% of the players born between

January and June and 31% of the players born between July and December. Ultimately, date

demonstrated that “male ODP regional team soccer players born in January were over five times

more likely to be selected for the national pool than their peers” (pg. 410).

In summary, in youth soccer it is a significant advantage if you were born in the first half

of the year rather than the last half. It is even more of an advantage if a player was born in the

first few months of the year. Again, this advantage seems apparent for males, but not for

females. This suggests that the nature of the maturation process is the underlying variable in

explaining success in elite youth soccer.

 Reference

Glamser, J. V. (2006). Gender Differences in the Relative Age Effect Among US

Olympic Development Program Youth Soccer Players. Journal of Sports Science ,
405-413.