Analysis of age, stature, body mass, BMI and quality of elite soccer players from 4 European Leagues.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to identify which league (English Premier League, Spanish La Liga Division, Italian Serie A and German Bundesliga) contained the highest quality players and whether differences in age, stature, body mass and BMI existed between the different positions in different leagues.


METHODS
Data were collected concerning 2,085 professional soccer players playing in these 4 leagues during the 2001-2002 season. Player quality was determined by the leagues' number of international players and their nations' FIFA World Ranking (FWR).


RESULTS
The La Liga Division contained the highest quality players (mean FWR) (11.5+/-13.8), followed by the Serie A (13.3+/-21.3), the Premier League (30.6+/-27.3) and the Bundesliga (30.7+/-27.1), respectively. Also, differences were found between the age, stature, body mass and BMI of players in different positions and in the different leagues. Age had a significant influence on position with goalkeepers (years) (27.4+/-5.3) being older than midfielders (26.2+/-4.3) and forwards (25.8+/-4.2) and defenders (26.8+/-4.3) being older than forwards. Players from the Bundesliga had the greatest stature (m) (1.83+/-0.06), body mass (kg) (77.5+/-6.4) and BMI (kg x m(-2)) (23.2+/-1.1) of the 4 leagues. In reflection, La Liga's players had the shortest stature (1.80+/-0.06) and the Serie A players had the least body mass (74.3+/-5.4) and BMI (22.8+/-1.1).


CONCLUSIONS
The differences discovered suggest either differences in playing style and physical demands of the different leagues, different physical conditioning methods or, alternatively, that there are desirable characteristics of players with teams in all 4 leagues seeking such players.
Bloomfield
J
J
Department of Sport Science, University of Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, UK.
Polman
R
R
Butterly
R
R
O'Donoghue
P
P
D000367:Age Factors; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004739:England; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D013030:Spain