Investigating the Relative Age Effect Among Iranian Soccer Team Players Over the Past Decade

Paper ID : 1251-SPORTCONGRESS

Authors

Reyhaneh Kalaaky Juybari *, Mohammad Kazemi University of Tehran

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the relative age effect (RAE) among players of the Iranian national Soccer team. Previous research has consistently reported an overrepresentation of athletes born earlier in the selection year, yet evidence from Iranian Soccer—particularly at the national team level—remains limited.In this study, the birthdates of All Iranian national Soccer team players (N=108) over the past decade (2015-2025) were collected from official sources. Players’ ages were categorized based on their months into annual quartiles (Q1 to Q4) and analyzed accordingly. After data entry into SPSS software, the chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used to examine the distribution of birth dates. The findings revealed a significant difference (p<0.05) in the seasonal distribution of birthdates, with a higher representation in the early months of the year, indicating the presence of a relative age effect at the national level. The highest frequency was observed in the second quartiles (%34.3), while the lowest frequencies were found in the third and fourth quartiles (each 17.6%). Overall, %65 of the players were born in the first half of the year. These results clearly suggest that the selection process for Iran’s national Soccer team over the past decade has been indirectly influenced by players’ birthdates. This evidence can contribute to optimizing talent identification processes and designing more equitable policies for player selection in Soccer.

Keywords

Relative age effect, Talent identification and Development in sports, National Soccer team players.

Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation)