Comparing the technical and individual possession statistics of academy players across different age groups in match-play

Emily Escreet, Steve Barrett, John Toner, John Iga and Christopher Towlson

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Youth soccer players in the UK transition into the professional game at 16 years of age. Understanding the differences between youth and professional standards can help coaches and clubs to support player development during this transition. Objectives: To (i) assess the differences in technical and possession statistics between different age groups (U16, U18, U23) and outfield positions (central defender [CD], wide defender [WD], central midfielder [CM], attacking midfielder [AM], wide midfielder [WM], striker [ST]), within an English academy soccer programme, during match-play. Methods: All matches were monitored using foot-mounted inertial measurements units (F-IMU; Playermaker™) to quantify the technical (touches and releases from the feet) and individual possession statistics (Time on the ball, Time on the ball per possession) from each match. Teams were instructed to play a 1-4-3-3 formation as part of their clubs playing philosophy, with positions defined per this formation. Data were analysed using a multi-variate ANOVA Two-tailed statistical significance was accepted as p ≤ 0.05 and measures of effect size were calculated using partial eta-squared (η2). Magnitude of the effect sizes were small (0.2

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0316833

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316833

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