Do Football Athletes In The Under-20 And Professional Categories Have Similar Anthropometric And Physical Characteristics?

Of this study was to compare the anthropometric characteristics and physical capacities of soccer athletes in the under-20 and professional categories. For this, 53 soccer athletes, selected in a non-probabilistic way (32 athletes from the under-20 category [18.4±0.7 years old] and 21 from the professional one [24.7±4.1 years old]) were subjected to anthropometric evaluations (weight, height, index of corporal mass and corporal composition), and physical evaluations (flexibility, aerobic and anaerobic capacity and vertical jumps). The results showed that in the anthropometric evaluations, the under-20 category presented lower values for the body mass variables, body mass index and fat percentage (p<0.05), but without significant difference in height (p>0.05). In the physical evaluations, the under-20 category presented higher aerobic capacity compared to professionals (p<0.05), maximum and average anaerobic power (p<0.05), but not in the fatigue index (p>0.05). In relation to professionals, the under-20 category presented higher results in vertical jump, Counter Movement Jump and Squat Jump tests, besides showing higher flexibility (p<0.05). Age demonstrated positive correlation only with body mass index (0.685) and fat percentage (0.526); and negative correlation with aerobic fitness (-0.457), average anaerobic power (-0.342), Squat Jump (-0.388) and flexibility (-0.662) (p<0.05). It can be concluded that the under-20 category had better anthropometric and physical indexes in relation to professionals. Thus, it may be beneficial using the under-20 athletes at the beginning of the season to gain experience in the professional category and to readapt the professional ones.

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