Football: which youth age group a player falls into
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The first of January is the usual cutoff, and it is what most federations follow, but not all of them: some run the age year from August. It is a rule rather than a fact of nature, so the page asks instead of assuming.
Results
The age group for that season
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| Everyone in that group was born between | — |
| Days younger than the oldest in the group | — |
| What that gap is worth, as a share of the life lived so far | — |
| Age when the season starts | — |
| How wide the group is, in days | — |
Why the same gap matters less every year
| Age group | The gap, as a share of a whole life |
|---|
A gap of a year is a gap of a year at any age, but it does not weigh the same. At seven it is about a seventh of everything the child has lived; at twenty it is about a twentieth. That is the whole reason the advantage of being born early fades as players get older, and why it is loudest in exactly the categories where selections are being made.
What this page will not do is tell you a player is better or worse. It works out where the calendar put them, which is a fact, and stops there. Whether a squad ends up full of players born in the first months is a question about that squad, and answering it needs the squad, not a formula.
One day either side of the cutoff moves a player a whole group. Someone born on the last day of the age year and someone born on the first day of the next one are a single day apart and will never share a category again.
Why does the group go by the year and not by the birthday?
Because a competition has to put everyone into a small number of groups and keep them there for a season. Sorting by exact birthday would mean players changing group in the middle of a year, so the rules cut the calendar once and everyone born inside that slice plays together.
The price of that convenience is the width of the slice. With the usual first of January cutoff, a player born in January and one born in December are the same age as far as the rules are concerned, and nearly a year apart as far as growing is concerned.
How big is the gap inside one group?
Up to three hundred and sixty four days, or three hundred and sixty five when the year is a leap year. That is the whole width of the slice, and it is the same at every age group.
What changes is how much that year is worth. At seven it is around a seventh of everything the child has lived, and by twenty it is around a twentieth. That is why the advantage of an early birth fades, and why it is loudest in exactly the years when squads are being picked.
What does one day either side of the cutoff do?
It moves the player a whole group. With a first of January cutoff, someone born on the thirty first of December and someone born the next day are one day apart in age and a full category apart in the rules.
From that day on they will not share an age group again, and the one born just after the line will be among the oldest in every squad while the other is among the youngest.
Does this tell me whether a player is any good?
No, and it is worth being clear about that. This page works out where the calendar put somebody, which is a fact and nothing more. It does not measure a player and it cannot.
The interesting question, whether squads end up crowded with players born in the first months of the age year, is a question about a particular squad. Answering it needs the list of birth dates from that squad, not a formula.
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