Relative Age Effect in Senior Football Leagues in Former Yugoslav Republics

Abstract

The relative age effect is considered to be the main cause of the uneven distribution of birthdates in sports teams, particularly in football. The aim of this paper is to examine the presence of the relative age effect in the leagues of the former Yugoslav republics and the differences in birthdates distribution between the leagues. To test hypoth- eses, we used publicly available information obtained from official websites, which regarded players who played in the analyzed leagues during the 2020/2021 season. The absolute results indicate that in five of the six observed leagues, the greatest number of players were born in the first quartal of the year. A more detailed observation of each league individually found a significant relative age effect among players who play in the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian leagues, but not in Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Also, the re- sults show that the quarterly distribution of analyzed leagues does not differ significantly. The results of this paper should serve the purpose of raising awareness about the presence of the relative age effect in regional football. All this should affect the creation of an environment in which all football players would have an equal chance for development and progress, reduce the chances of overlooking potential talents and ultimately raise the quality of football in the region.