The relationship of the relative age effect of the championship teams in the Spor Toto Super League and the players playing in the U14, U15 and U16 age categories with the team performance

It is aimed to examine the relationship between the team performance and the relative age effect of the champion teams in the Spor Toto Super League and the players playing in the U14, U15 and U16 age categories. The study group of the research consists of licensed athletes registered in the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) playing in the U14, U15 and U16 age categories of Başakşehir, Beşiktaş, Bursaspor, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor teams, which became champions in the Spor Toto Super League in the 2022-2023 season. U14 teams of the champion teams in Spor Toto Super League (120) people; U15 teams consist of (120) participants and U16 teams consist of (120) participants, for a total of 360 participants. In order to collect the data, the athletes' birth dates and performance parameter information were accessed through archive scanning from the accessible Turkish Football Federation (TFF) network page. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the football players' birth dates, undergraduate years, the goals they scored and the points they received as a team in that season. When football players are examined according to their birth months; While most athletes of the U14, U15 and U16 teams were born in January; The month in which the fewest athletes were born was December; However, when we examine it as a Quarter Year, U14 (62 people %); U15 (53 people 44.2%); It is seen that U16 (53 people 44.2%) teams have the highest number of athletes in the Q1 months. As a result of the research; The fact that the athletes in all of the Başakşehir, Beşiktaş, Bursaspor, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor teams in the U14, U15 and U16 teams included in the research were born in the first months (YY1) and first quarter (Q1) of the year increases the performance of their teams, while the relative age has a positive effect. It was concluded that it affected However, it has been observed that the effect of relative age continues to decrease as age increases. In addition, as a result of dividing the athletes born in the first months of the year into chronological age groups, it was concluded that the higher number of athletes born in the first months of the year positively affected the team performance. However, it was concluded that the athletes whose license was issued in 2018 and earlier had a positive impact on the performance of their teams.