Relative age effect in female sport: a diachronic examination of soccer players

The relative age effect (RAE) is a biased distribution of elite athletes’ birthdates, with an overrepresentation of those born at the beginning of the competitive year and an underrepresentation of those born at the end. Despite an abundant literature, the impact of sex on this phenomenon remains neglected by most researchers. This study investigated the whole sample of female soccer players affiliated to the French Soccer Federation for the 2006–2007 season (n 5 57 892). It first aimed at testing the presence of RAE depending on age. Next, we looked at the birthdates of dropout players during the next season (n 5 15 285), to test whether relative age accounts for dropout from the activity. The analyses revealed significant differences between the expected and the observed distributions for all age categories. Furthermore, a significantly biased distribution of dropout players’ birthdates was found for the o10, o14, and o17 categories. On the whole, dropout players are underrepresented in Q1 and Q2, but overrepresented in Q3 and Q4. This study completes the literature on RAE among females, but the inconsistency of the results calls for more research on this population. The relative age effect (RAE) is a phenomenon initially observed by Grondin et al. (1984), and consists in a biased distribution of elite players’ birthdates. What is generally noticed is an overrepresentation of athletes born at the beginning of the competitive year but an underrepresentation of people born by the end of it. It is considered to be derived from the age categories distinguished by sport instances to organize and try to balance youth competition. Most of the time, children and adoles