Abstract
Relative age effects, which arise from age differences within youth sport cohorts, seem to influence later monetary values of soccer players (Ashworth & Heyndels, 2007). Additionally, Schorer and colleagues (2013) showed that there are different types of RAEs (i.e., within and between year effects), and that they can interact to influence athlete development. The aim of this study was to investigate whether within and between year effects influence long-term monetary values of male soccer players. Birth dates of male Under-17 2007 and 2009 soccer World Championships participants were obtained via official FIFA websites. Estimated monetary values for 822 were retrieved from the website www.transfermarkt.de. When players with no estimated market value were excluded from non-parametric tests, within year effects became significant, H(3, n = 547) = 8.79, p = .03. Quartile 4 had the highest rankings with 312.64, followed by similar rankings for quartile 1 (MR = 278.03) and quartile 3 (MR = 279.97). Quartile 2 had the lowest mean ranking with 246.13. For between year effects the same pattern was revealed, H(1, n = 806) = 17.66, p < .01. The mean ranks for older cohorts (MR = 278.96) were higher than the younger cohorts (MR = 232.22). While the results of this study show that the within year effect has an association with the estimated money value of players, the between year effect seems to have a stronger association. Future relative age studies need to consider both effects for a better understanding of the consequences of relative age.
