An investigation of Danish male youth football – is something rotten in the state of Denmark?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of relative age effect (RAE) in youth football in Denmark. RAE is a well-established phenomenon in elite sports across the globe and has been heavily investigated in football, often across clubs and countries. Method: To investigate RAE in Denmark, samples were collected from recreational and all levels of youth elite level male football. Chi-squared tests were applied to determine if RAE was present. Results: Results indicate that RAE is present in Danish male recreational football (P = 0.018) and all levels of youth elite football (P ≤ 0.005). Tendencies towards RAE at elite adult level (national team) were found, but results were not significant (P = 0.227). Collectively, this study illustrates the varied impact of RAE on different levels of seniority and competition, highlighting necessity of looking at RAE on different levels to encompass the importance of the phenomenon. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that despite of the Scandinavian focus on both mass participation and elite, RAE is still a common phenomenon at all levels of participation.