ArticleJournal of sports sciences2016
The scientific foundations and associated injury risks of early soccer specialisation.
Article in Journal of sports sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Effects of Strength, Plyometric and Combined Training on Strength, Power and Speed Characteristics in High-Level, Highly Trained Male Youth Soccer Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Pooled it
- What Defines Early Specialization: A Systematic Review of Literature.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Associations between maturation assessment methods and growth-related injury occurrence in a German Bundesliga youth football academy.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Adolescent Soccer Overuse Injuries: A Review of Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Management.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Review
- Biological maturity but not relative age biases exist in female international youth soccer players relative to the general population.Biology of sport · 2025Article
- Article
- Sustainable performance plan development to prevent non-contact ACL injuries in youth and adolescent athletes: a clinical practice review.Annals of joint · 2025Review
- 'Goalkeepers are players too': key attributes coaches' look for in talented youth soccer goalkeepers.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Exploring Growth, Maturity, and Age as Injury Risk Factors in High-Level Youth Football.Sports medicine international open · 2024Article
- Looking beyond relative age to understand relative advantage and disadvantage in talent development.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Push and Pull Factors: Contextualising Biological Maturation and Relative Age in Talent Development Systems.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Blank canvas or under construction? Examining the pre-academy experiences of young developing professional team sports athletes.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
- The Irish Football Player Pathway: Examining Stakeholder Coherence Throughout and Across the Player Development System.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Training Management of the Elite Adolescent Soccer Player throughout Maturation.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Maturity-associated considerations for training load, injury risk, and physical performance in youth soccer: One size does not fit all.Journal of sport and health science · 2021Review
- Age-Related Differences in Hamstring Flexibility in Prepubertal Soccer Players: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Parkour-Based Activities in the Athletic Development of Youth Basketball Players.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Premature Professionalisation or Early Engagement? Examining Practise in Football Player Pathways.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2021Article
- Movement Competency Training Delivery: At School or Online? A Pilot Study of High-School Athletes.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Early specialisation is characterised by formal participation in a single sport at the exclusion of others. Limited data are available to support this approach in the development of soccer players who attain elite status later in life. Of growing concern is the associated increased risk of injury and suggestions that single sport specialisation is a risk factor independent of age, growth, biological maturation and training volumes. In the United Kingdom, elite soccer organisations have recently adopted an early sport specialisation approach following the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan. A key tenet of this programme is increased opportunities for training through a marked rise in the specified on-pitch hours per week. The accumulation of high training hours may be less of a relevant marker for success, and the impact of such a significant increase in training volume for young athletes who are experiencing a range of growth and maturational processes is currently unknown. This critical commentary includes an evidence-based discussion of the effectiveness of early sport specialisation and the potential injury risks associated with such programmes placing a specific focus on elite male youth soccer players. Available data indicate that modifications to the existing Elite Player Performance Plan framework could enhance players' development and reduce injury risk. Proposed alterations include reduced volume of soccer-specific training at key stages of growth and maturation and guidelines for the provision of a greater variety of physical activities that are integrated within other programme components.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.