Age and Productivity in High-Skilled Work: Goal-scoring in the English Premier League

Jan C. van Ours

No 22118, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Professional football has many dimensions of productivity. This paper focuses on goal scoring and analyzes the relationship between goal scoring and the age of professional football players active in the English Premier League over an eight-season period. There are two dimensions of productivity in goal scoring. First, goal preparation in terms of creating scoring opportunities as measured by expected goals. Second, the conversion of expected goals into actual goals. The first dimension is the result of a combination of teamwork and individual skills, while the second dimension represents a purely individual skill. Age may affect both dimensions of goal scoring differently. The main finding of the analysis is that age has a non-linear effect on the productivity of goal scoring. For the youngest players the effect is positive, for the oldest players the effect is negative. In between age has no effect. The positive productivity effect at a young age comes from expected goals and could be related to a learning process. The negative productivity effect among older players could be caused by a deterioration of individual skills to convert expected goals into actual goals.

Keywords: Performance; Psychological pressure; Skills; Professional football (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 J24 Z21 Z22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-11
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