DEFINING THE MORPHO-FUNCTIONAL INDICATORS FOR THE SELECTION OF FOOTBALLERS ACCORDING TO THEIR PLAY LINES

Abstract

This study aims at defining the morphological and functional indicators for the selection of footballers according to the three play lines (defence, midfield, attack) for the category of under 18 years old. We will work on finding the differences in these morpho-functional indicators and their relation with the play lines and their requirements. For this, we made the morphological measurements, namely : height, weight, fat-weight, muscle weight, bone weight, and the functional tests, namely : Luc Leger’ Test to measure the maximal oxygen consumption (Vo2max), the retrieval capacity via Ruffier Dickson Test and Vitality Capacity Test V.C, for 10 first level clubs in the West of Algeria; as we selected 18 players from each team with the average of 6 players of each play line (180 players), making a rate of 32%  of the original society as a sample. We also used the descriptive and statistical comparative methods among those indicators and each play line in order to know to what extent those morpho-functional variables cause differences among players according to their play lines, while defining those indicators as a reference to be adopted in the players selection process for this age category in order to support the selection process with observation. The results revealed clear differences in the morph-functional indicators among the target category of players according to the differences in their playing lines at the level of the height indicator, as the significance value of selection reached 0.015 which is less than the significance level of the null hypotheses, while we did not find significant differences between the other morphological indicators. Meanwhile, there was a difference in the functional indicator at the level of the retrieval capacity, as the significance value reached 0.011 which is less than the test significance level 0.05; there was no difference at the level the other significances. Thence, the researcher recommends the necessity of consolidating the selection process by the inclusion of observation through the use of some morphological measurements such as height, in addition to functional tests such as the retrieval capacity as important indicators in the players selection process according to the requirements of the play lines for this age category of players, in order to select the best talents that can be beneficial to Algerian football in the future. 

Article visualizations: