Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Isabel I, Calle de Fernán González, 76, 09003 Burgos, Spain.
Faculty of Sports Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Calle Tajo S/N, 28670 Madrid, Spain.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 9;17(9):3301. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17093301.
The relative age effect (RAE) consists of the lower presence of members of an age group born in the months furthest from the age cut-off date established. In youth soccer, it is known that because of this effect the birth dates of more players in a team are closer to the cutoff of 1 January. These older players, due to their physical and psychological advantages, are more likely to be identified as talent. This study aimed to examine whether RAE can be identified in professional players of the top five European soccer leagues (Spain, Italy, England, Germany, and France) and to assess its influence on the perceived market value of the players. Market value data for 2577 players were obtained from the Transfermarkt database. A significant RAE was produced in all leagues ( < 0.05). However, this bias did not affect the market value of the professional elite soccer players examined here. Our observations indicate that, while the identification and promotion of talent at young ages are often biased by RAE, once players have reached the professional stage, the market value assigned to them is based more on factors other than their date of birth.
相对年龄效应（RAE）是指在以截止日期划分的年龄组中，成员数量较少的现象。在青年足球中，由于这种效应，一个团队中更多球员的出生日期更接近 1 月 1 日截止日期。这些年龄较大的球员由于身体和心理上的优势，更有可能被视为有天赋的球员。本研究旨在检验相对年龄效应是否可以在欧洲五个顶级足球联赛（西班牙、意大利、英格兰、德国和法国）的职业球员中被识别，并评估其对球员感知市场价值的影响。从 Transfermarkt 数据库中获取了 2577 名球员的市场价值数据。所有联赛都产生了显著的相对年龄效应（<0.05）。然而，这种偏差并没有影响到我们这里所研究的职业精英足球运动员的市场价值。我们的观察表明，虽然在年轻球员中识别和培养人才往往受到相对年龄效应的影响，但一旦球员达到职业阶段，赋予他们的市场价值更多地基于除出生日期以外的其他因素。
