Age behaviour and variables of success in FIFA World Cup from 1998 to 2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v50.99719Keywords:
age of peak performance, soccer, performance analysis, playing positionAbstract
This study aimed to analyse the influence of age on variables such as the number of participations, club confederation, national team confederation, playing position, team performance, year celebration, and total minutes played during FIFA World Cup (FWC) from 1998 to 2018. The sample was composed of all players who participated in the FWC from 1998 to 2018 and played at least one minute (n = 3529). Data were examined using descriptive analysis, a one-way ANOVA, and linear regression. The main finding of the current study was that the average age of participants in the FWC was 26 years, with goalkeepers and central defenders being the playing positions with the highest average age while wingers have the lowest average age. The youngest players belong to CAF clubs and national teams, while the oldest players belong to CONCACAF. Finally, the players who completed a higher percentage of minutes have a higher average age (26.5 years), while the winners (25.4 years) have a lower average age than the finalists (26.9 years). These results provide useful information regarding at what age players reach their peak performance and could provide valuable information to national federations and national team coaching staff.
Keywords: age of peak performance; soccer; performance analysis; performance indicators; playing position.
References
Allen, S. v., & Hopkins, W. G. (2015). Age of Peak Competitive Performance of Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 45(10), 1431–1441. https://doi.org/10.1007/S40279-015-0354-3
Altmann, S., Neumann, R., Woll, A., & Härtel, S. (2020). Endurance Capacities in Professional Soccer Players: Are Per-formance Profiles Position Specific? Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.549897
Bloomfield, J., Polman, R., Butterly, R., & O’Donoghue, P. (2005). Analysis of age, stature, body mass, BMI and quality of elite soccer players from 4 European Leagues. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 45(1), 58–67. https://europepmc.org/article/med/16208292
Botek, M., Krejčí, J., McKune, A. J., & Klimešová, I. (2016). Somatic, endurance performance and heart rate variability profiles of professional soccer players grouped according to age. Journal of Human Kinetics, 54(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1515/hukin-2016-0035
Bradbury, J. C. (2009). Peak athletic performance and ageing: evidence from baseball. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(6), 599–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802691348
Caballero, P., Garcia Rubio, J., & Ibáñez, S. J. (2017). Influence of situational variables on the U’18 soccer performance analysis (Análisis de la influencia de las variables situacionales en el rendimiento en futbol U’18). Retos. Nuevas Tendencias En Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación., 32, 224–227. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v0i32.56071
Caley, M. (2013). The Football Aging Curve - Cartilage Free Captain. https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2013/12/9/5191634/the-football-aging-curve
Carapinheira, A., Mendes, P., Carvalho, P. G., & Travassos, B. (2019). Sports career termination in football players: Systematic review. 14(1), 61–65.
Dendir, S. (2016). When do soccer players peak? A note. Journal of Sports Analytics, 2(2), 89–105. https://doi.org/10.3233/jsa-160021
Errekagorri, I., Castellano, J., Echeazarra, I., López-Del Campo, R., & Resta, R. (2022). A longitudinal analysis of tech-nical-tactical and physical performance of the teams in the Spanish LaLiga Santander: An eight-season study. Biology of Sport, 39(2), 389–396. https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2022.105331
Fernández-Cortés Tolosa, J. A., Cáceres Sánchez, L., Antunez Medina, A., García Rubio, J., & Ibáñez Godoy, S. J. (2022). Análisis de la influencia de las variables situacionales en el fútbol profesional (Analysis of the influece of situational varia-bles in professional soccer). Retos. Nuevas Tendencias En Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación., 46, 114–119. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v46.91541
García-Calvo, T., Huertas, F., Ponce-Bordón, J. C., López del Campo, R., Resta, R., & Ballester, R. (2023). Does player age influence match physical performance? A longitudinal four-season analysis in Spanish Soccer LaLiga. Biology of Sport. https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2023.124844
Gelade, G. A., & Dobson, P. (2007). Predicting the Comparative Strengths of National Football Teams. Social Science Quar-terly, 88(1), 244–258. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00456.x
Gómez, M. Á., Lago, C., Gómez, M. T., & Furley, P. (2019). Analysis of elite soccer players’ performance before and after signing a new contract. PloS One, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0211058
Gómez, M., Lago-Peñas, C., & Pollard, R. (2013). Situational variables. In Routledge Handbook of Sports Performance Analysis (pp. 277–287). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806913-33
Hopkins, W. G., Marshall, S. W., Batterham, A. M., & Hanin, J. (2009). Progressive statistics for studies in sports medi-cine and exercise science. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0B013E31818CB278
Junge, A., & Dvořák, J. (2015). Football injuries during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(9), 599. https://doi.org/10.1136/BJSPORTS-2014-094469
Kalén, A., Rey, E., de Rellán-Guerra, A. S., & Lago-Peñas, C. (2019). Are Soccer Players Older Now Than Before? Aging Trends and Market Value in the Last Three Decades of the UEFA Champions League. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00076
Lago-Peñas, C., Lago-Peñas, S., & Lago, I. (2019). Player migration and soccer performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00616
Longo, U. G., Sofi, F., Dinu, M., Candela, V., Salvatore, G., Cimmino, M., Jennings, J. M., & Denaro, V. (2019). Func-tional performance, anthropometric parameters and contribution to team success among Italian “Serie A” elite goalkeep-ers during season 2016-2017. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 59(6), 969–974. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.18.08700-5
López-Gajardo, M. Á., Flores-Cidoncha, A., Rubio-Morales, A., Díaz-García, J., & González-Ponce, I. (2022). Factores que determinan la consecución del rendimiento en el fútbol de élite: Orientación cualitativa con jugadores y jugadoras profesionales (Factors that determine the achievement of performance in elite football: Qualitative orientation with pro-fessional players). Retos. Nuevas Tendencias En Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación., 46, 789–800. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v46.92961
Lorenzo-Martínez, M., Rey, E., & Padrón-Cabo, A. (2020). The effect of age on between-match physical performance variability in professional soccer players. Research in Sports Medicine (Print), 28(3), 351–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438627.2019.1680985
Milanovic, B. (2005). Globalization and Goals: Does Soccer Show the Way? Review of International Political Economy, 12, 829–850. https://doi.org/doi: 10.1080/09692290500339818
Modric, T., Versic, S., Chmura, P., Konefał, M., Andrzejewski, M., Jukic, I., Drid, P., Pocek, S., & Sekulic, D. (2022). Match Running Performance in UEFA Champions League: Is There a Worthwhile Association with Team Achievement? Biology, 11(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/BIOLOGY11060867
Mohr, M., Krustrup, P., & Bangsbo, J. (2003). Match performance of high-standard soccer players with special reference to development of fatigue. Journal of Sports Sciences, 21(7), 519–528. https://doi.org/10.1080/0264041031000071182
Oterhals, G., Lorås, H., & Pedersen, A. V. (2021). Age at Nomination Among Soccer Players Nominated for Major Inter-national Individual Awards: A Better Proxy for the Age of Peak Individual Soccer Performance? Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661523
Peeters, T. (2018). Testing the Wisdom of Crowds in the field: Transfermarkt valuations and international soccer results. International Journal of Forecasting, 34(1), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2017.08.002
Poli, R., Ravenel, L., & Besson, R. (2022, May). CIES Football Observatory. Football Players’ Export: 2017-2022. https://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr75/en/
Rampinini, E., Impellizzeri, F. M., Castagna, C., Coutts, A. J., & Wisløff, U. (2009). Technical performance during soccer matches of the Italian Serie A league: effect of fatigue and competitive level. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 12(1), 227–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JSAMS.2007.10.002
Rey, E., Costa, P. B., Corredoira, F. J., & Sal de Rellán Guerra, A. (2023). Effects of Age on Physical Match Performance in Professional Soccer Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 37(6), 1244–1249. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003244
Rey, E., Lorenzo-Martínez, M., López-Del Campo, R., Resta, R., & Lago-Peñas, C. (2022). No sport for old players. A longitudinal study of aging effects on match performance in elite soccer. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25(6), 535–539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2022.03.004
Sal de Rellán‐Guerra, A., Rey, E., Kalén, A., & Lago‐Peñas, C. (2019). Age‐related physical and technical match perfor-mance changes in elite soccer players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29(9), 1421–1427. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13463
Sapp, R. M., Spangenburg, E. E., & Hagberg, J. M. (2018). Trends in aggressive play and refereeing among the top five European soccer leagues. Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(12), 1346–1354. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2017.1377911
Sarmento, H., Marques, A., Field, A., Martins, J., Gouveia, É. R., Laura, P. M., Nestor, O. S., Rodríguez, D. A., & Clemente, F. M. (2020). Genetic influence on football performance: A systematic review. In Human Movement (Vol. 21, pp. 1–17). https://doi.org/10.5114/hm.2020.94198
Sarmento, H., Pereira, A. A., Matos, N., Campaniço, J., Anguera, M. T., & Leitão, J. (2013). English Premier League, Spaińs La Liga and Italýs Seriés A – What’s Different? International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 13(3), 773–779. https://doi.org/10.1080/24748668.2013.11868688
Tuo, Q., Wang, L., Huang, G., Zhang, H., & Liu, H. (2019). Running Performance of Soccer Players During Matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup: Differences Among Confederations. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYG.2019.01044
Wong, D. P., Kong, H., & Castagna, C. (2008). Characteristics of World Cup Soccer Players. Soccer Journal, 53(1).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Retos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.