Fabio Caressa said it 12 years ago, then Alessandro Del Piero repeated it, and since then almost all of Italy has supported the idea: “We just want them to be big and fast.” It doesn’t matter whether they are Italian or not, at least to the club.
Can those who have not developed the physique of an adult football player at 16 years old be able to compete? Generally speaking, no. Most boys born in the second half of the year have the same fate: because People born between July and December almost never play.
Young Italians: People born after July…don’t play
The math is simple: if you’re born in the last 6 months of the year, you don’t play games. This is the number revealed sky sports Tell us: in Italy U-17 squad for the 2025 World CupPlayers born in the second half of the year account for only 14%. Incredibly, 0% were born in the last quarter: from October to December.
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2025 World Cup Italy U17 Team:
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Born between October and December: 0%
question (called relative age effect) As a player’s body matures, the problem becomes slightly less serious: by the age of 16, within 10 months, the body can completely change. At 21, this rarely happens.
Serie A U21 players
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Born between October and December: 17%
If we look at the playing time of Italian U21 players in Serie A (which is still very little anyway), we can see that the gap is still huge. There are almost twice as many boys born in the first quarter as there were in the previous quarter.
Solutions adopted by other countries
in italyThen, it is almost impossible for people born after July to enter any national youth team. At club level, these players may be relegated to the bench: Not because they lack potential, but because they don’t offer enough immediate guarantees.
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Other European countries have also found solutions For that matter, let’s take a look at them.
England
In the UK they use biozone plan: A program for children ages 12 to 15 that seeks to determine boys’ biological maturity rather than assessing them based solely on their chronological age. In this way, a 15-year-old player with a 13-year-old physique has a chance to compete with a 13-year-old child. Not because he was considered “worse” technically, but because physically he couldn’t handle the impact of facing his peers yet.
France
France also started using a similar process to the UK with territorial selection “Avenir – Maturité Tardive”observe and select the best talents born in the second half of the year. A special scouting system where not only the best players are trained at the Federal Center, but also those who develop later in life.
Germany
In Germany, the biological age of young players has also been analyzed. In this case, where 14 to 16 years oldthis “Water down” Initiative applications: Young players have the opportunity to compete in lower age groups No regulatory restrictions or age restrictions will be encountered.
Belgium
In Belgium, the U15, U16 and U17 national teams have a specially created rival called “Future”: National team, in which mature players are late, “The Late Blooming Player” Be summoned. so, Developmentally stunted boys can represent the country at the highest level, while still being supervised by a dedicated federal coach.
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This article was translated into English by artificial intelligence. You can read the original version of 🇮🇹 here.