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Background <p>A&#xa0;current reform in German youth soccer intends to promote individual talent development. The aim of our study was to investigate the distribution of time on the field (ToF) among a&#xa0;team’s squad members as a&#xa0;marker for a&#xa0;club’s strategies of talent development.</p> Methods <p>The study included 1176 teams comprising 33,483 players of the German U19 and U17 Bundesliga over a&#xa0;period of 16&#xa0;years. We calculated a&#xa0;team’s Gini index and self-designed variables to characterize the ToF distribution across the players of a&#xa0;squad.</p> Results <p>On average, squads consisted of 29.9 (± 4.3) players, showing a partially increasing trend. The&#xa0;mean Gini index was 44.8% (± 5.9), indicating a&#xa0;rather uneven distribution among the squad members. Overall, 50% of the team’s available playing time was shared by 7.8 (± 0.6) players (variable NPL-50%PT). The 11 most fielded players received 73.1% (± 5.0) of the team’s playing time (variable %PT-11PL). We found significant correlations between these indicators and the team’s final rank in the season’s table for both U17 and U19 (all <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). A&#xa0;significant correlation between a&#xa0;club’s U17 and U19 teams for %PT-11PL suggests stable club strategies for the distribution of ToF.</p> Conclusion <p>The findings reflect club strategies of favoring short-term competitive success rather than long-term talent development under the previous competition structure. This underscores the necessity of the reform and highlights the importance of a&#xa0;thorough evaluation based on our benchmarks and methodological tools to prevent undesired side effects such as increasing squad sizes.</p>

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Time-on-field distribution of soccer squads in the German U17 and U19 Bundesliga

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月11日

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  • Claudia Augste,
  • Maurice Koller,
  • Bettina Schröpf,
  • Martin Lames

摘要

Background

A current reform in German youth soccer intends to promote individual talent development. The aim of our study was to investigate the distribution of time on the field (ToF) among a team’s squad members as a marker for a club’s strategies of talent development.

Methods

The study included 1176 teams comprising 33,483 players of the German U19 and U17 Bundesliga over a period of 16 years. We calculated a team’s Gini index and self-designed variables to characterize the ToF distribution across the players of a squad.

Results

On average, squads consisted of 29.9 (± 4.3) players, showing a partially increasing trend. The mean Gini index was 44.8% (± 5.9), indicating a rather uneven distribution among the squad members. Overall, 50% of the team’s available playing time was shared by 7.8 (± 0.6) players (variable NPL-50%PT). The 11 most fielded players received 73.1% (± 5.0) of the team’s playing time (variable %PT-11PL). We found significant correlations between these indicators and the team’s final rank in the season’s table for both U17 and U19 (all p < 0.001). A significant correlation between a club’s U17 and U19 teams for %PT-11PL suggests stable club strategies for the distribution of ToF.

Conclusion

The findings reflect club strategies of favoring short-term competitive success rather than long-term talent development under the previous competition structure. This underscores the necessity of the reform and highlights the importance of a thorough evaluation based on our benchmarks and methodological tools to prevent undesired side effects such as increasing squad sizes.