The Impact of Morphological Characteristics and Motoric Skills in Young Football Players’ Selection

Abstract

This research aims at showing the impact of basic morphological characteristics and specific motoric skills in the selection of young football players, specifically in showing the differences between FC Prishtina’s U17 first and second teams. 30 football players participated in this study and were divided into two teams: a first team (n=15) and a second team (n=15). The competitive season performance of football players served as the selection criterion. It was always based on the eye of the coaches. The morphological measurements (body weight and height; BMI) and the assessment of specific motoric skills (speed, agility, and others) were done at the beginning of the competitive season. The research results through T-test analysis have proven differences between the first and second teams (in favor of the first team) in specific motoric skills: sprint 10 m, sprint 30m, specific endurance 300 m, agility without ball 20 m, agility with ball 20 m, but no significant differences between teams in morphological characteristics (body weight and height, BMI). So, based on this study, we can affirm that the selection of more qualitative football players (for the first team) is significantly influenced by specific motor skills (speed, agility, and specific endurance) but not by morphological characteristics (body weight and height, BMI).