Relative Age Effect on the Men's (1962-2022) and Women's (1991-2023) Fifa World Cups: Analysis by Sex, Sporting Outcome and Confederation

Carlos Felipe Martínez Benítez; Juan Diego Ávila-Martínez; Boryi Alexander Becerra Patiño; Diego Andrés Rada-Perdigón; José Pino-Ortega

doi:10.12800/ccd.v21i67.2366

Authors

Carlos Felipe Martínez Benítez https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3322-867X
Juan Diego Ávila-Martínez https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4088-5176
Boryi Alexander Becerra Patiño Universidad Pedagógica Nacional https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9581-5071
Diego Andrés Rada-Perdigón https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6536-222X
José Pino-Ortega https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9091-0897

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12800/ccd.v21i67.2366

Keywords:

birth quartile, relative age effect, football, sex differences

Abstract

The objectives of this study were three: i) analyze the RAE of the elite soccer players who played in the FIFA World Cup between 1962 and 2022 for men and 1991 until 2023 for women; ii) check if there are differences between the distributions by date of birth of the players about the phase reached in the World Cup; iii) analyze the RAE according to the different confederations. The differences between the observed and expected distributions were analyzed using the Chi-square adjustment goodness test and Odds ratio. The dates of birth of 9.064 male athletes and 3.580 female athletes were evaluated. These findings are related to those of the present study, where it has also been determined that there is a significant RAE for 11 of the 15 men's world championships and 7 of the nine women's world championships analyzed that resulted in championships. As for the analysis by the teams that obtained a significant RAE, it was determined that of the 14 teams that have been champions or runners-up in the men's and women's World Cups, only the teams of England for men and Norway, Sweden, and the United States for women turned out to be significant for the champion. For the analysis of the RAE according to confederation, it has been determined that there is only two significant RAE for the champion team (CONCACAF and CAF), three for the runner-up teams (AFC, CONCACAF and CAF) and three for the third place (AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL).

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