European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify and compare the developmental pathway between elite and non-elite youth soccer players. 30 elite players from state team and 30 non-elite players from university team participated in this study. The Participation History Questionnaire (PHQ) was used to determine soccer related activities undertaken by the athletes throughout their career. There were significant differences at certain age mile-stones (age first started to play soccer; started training; started to compete). The elite play-ers accumulated significant differences on types of activities at age range 13-15 years and 16-22 years while for non-elite group showed a significant difference at types of activities at all age range (6-12, 13-15 and 16-22). The elite players participated in less other-sports than the non-elite soccer players. In conclusion, the elite players followed the early special-isation pathway by concentrating on soccer and significantly increased their structured soccer related activities from 16 years onwards. The non-elite players followed the early diversification pathway but did not attain the level as the elites in adulthood. Future inves-tigation on the microstructure of the soccer activities is suggested to examine how these players engaged in those activities.