Soccer Success: Do Birth Months Matter?

Over the years, scientists and analysts alike studied physical traits and other factors that may contribute to a person becoming an elite athlete. Physical features, place of birth, down to an individual’s DNA have been explored as catalysts to athletic excellence. So, do birth months have anything to do with success on the soccer field?

Multiple studies were conducted to determine whether one’s birth month relates to the person’s probability of becoming a top-performing athlete.

Author, Malcolm Gladwell, wrote about this phenomenon in his book, “Outliers.” He studied top hockey players in Canada and discovered some really interesting things;

• 40% are born between January and March
• 30% are born between April and June
• 20% are born between July and September
• 10% are born between October and December

When studied in Europe and abroad, scientists found that top-performing soccer players are usually born at the beginning of the year. A study in Australia found that in the Australian Football League (AFL), Australia’s professional league, most players were born in the first few months of the year. Very few players had birthdays at the end of the year, with the least number born in December.

According to a BBC article, results from these studies indicate that children born at the beginning of the year usually fall into a younger age bracket when participating in youth sports. This would make them slightly older than other children in their age bracket, giving them a slight advantage over younger, smaller players. This commonly overlooked detail is referred to as the Relative Age Effect (RAE), where athletes born at the beginning of the year have a physical, emotional, and tactical advantage over athletes born in the last few months of the year.

As far as some of the players that have been featured on the USWNT, Kristie Mewis, Ashley Sanchez, Casey Murphy, Mallory Swanson, Rose Lavelle, Trinity Rodman, Jessica McDonald, Lynn Williams, Lindsey Horan, and Tobin Heath are top players who were born within the first five months of the year. Orlando Pride attacker Marta, arguably one of the best female players in the world, was born in February.

However, even though studies show that high-performing athletes are usually born at the beginning of the year, many elite NWSL players are born throughout the year. For example, women’s soccer legends Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, and Christine Sinclair were born in the middle of the year. Catarina Macario, Sam Mewis, and Christen Press were born in the last three months of the year. Plus, all of the top four scorers this past season, Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith, Debinha, and Diana Ordonez, were born from July to October.

While research may point to certain correlations that influence the making of a great athlete, the women in the NWSL prove that dedication and passion for the sport contribute more to a player’s success than the month they were born.

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