Ensuring satisfaction in rural youth soccer: The consequences of ageunbalanced teams, and suggested remedies

In rural areas, the formation of competitive youth soccer teams has become increasingly difficult due to declining numbers. Often, sport clubs are forced to pool children and adolescents into multi-age teams and must play with fewer (substitute) players than their opponents. This study quantifies the effects of average team age and size differences on match outcomes as measured by goal difference. Regression analyses were conducted using data from 82 matches of a rural recreational male youth soccer team (U-13 to U- 16) in northern Italy. Results show that teams’ average age differences begin to significantly affect match outcomes at a threshold of 90 days onwards. The effect was about one additional goal per 45 days of a team age difference. The influence of unequal substitute numbers depended on team age differences but averaged approximately 0.5 goals per additional substitute. The home-field effect was not significant. Based on the estimates, match outcomes corrected for differences in average team age and size were calculated. It is suggested that communicating corrected match outcomes might help reduce player frustrations, which could impact activity abandonment and stabilise countryside communities.