Career patterns within men’s and women’s soccer talent systems: the typical pathway to the top is atypical

This study aimed to examine whether early recruitment correlates with senior performance levels and, as a next step, to quantitatively explore the shape of nearly 3,000 Dutch male and female youth soccer players’ career patterns.Talent systems in soccer aim to identify and recruit the most promising players, ideally during early childhood.

Compared to non-recruited players, recruited players are typically provided with higher-quality coaching and training facilities, which are assumed to accelerate their skill development. As a result, future elite players are expected to emerge from this group of early recruits in a singular, uninterrupted progression. The career patterns are stored in two data sets (natteam.csv; academy.csv).