The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) relative age solutions project-part one

A Call to Action

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5285886
AutoresAdam Leigh Kelly, Frederike Zwenk, David Mann (0000-0002-2099-0852), David L Mann (0000-0001-7476-6939), Jan Verbeek (0000-0002-6537-6100)
Ano2025
Volume7
Páginas1546829-1546829
Data de publicação2025-04-10
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoFrontiers in Sports and Active Living (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2624-9367 • E-ISSN: 2624-9367
EditoraFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fspor.2025.1546829
PMID40276309
OpenAlexW4409345102
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas63

IntroductionDespite its widespread prevalence in youth soccer, there seems to be no widely implemented intervention to moderate or overcome Relative Age Effects (RAEs). The purpose of this study was a call to action for stakeholders to propose relative age solutions to the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).MethodsThe call to action consisted of a standardised, open-access questionnaire that contained questions focussed on: (a) the mechanisms of the proposal, (b) hypothesised effects, and (c) reference to empirical findings.ResultsFollowing the initial screening of 185 submissions, a total of 143 eligible proposals were included. Each proposal was categorised by two project members based on a taxonomy to classify different approaches designed to reduce RAEs by: (a) altering the behaviour of observers, (b) implementing rules when selecting teams, or (c) adjusting competition structures. From this, 13 lower-order independent solutions were categorised.DiscussionInterestingly, whilst no new suggestions outside the existing literature were proposed in any of the submissions, only two have been empirically tested in soccer. Overall, the results present a useful first step in identifying possible relative age solutions. Due to the number of proposed solutions and their anecdotal nature, the next step for the KNVB was to utilise the knowledge of experts in the field via an adapted e-Delphi study to identify the most effective and feasible solutions to implement in practice (Part Two

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