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The Role of Age in Labor Productivity How Age Matters in Professional Football

Jorge Tovar

Journal of Sports Economics2026https://doi.org/10.1177/15270025261427492article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This study analyzes age-productivity relationships in professional football using two comprehensive datasets. The first examines detailed OPTA performance data from the Spanish LaLiga, the English Premier League, and the Colombian Liga Águila, creating productivity indices using principal component analysis. The second uses complete career histories from transfermarkt.com for players across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, applying Fantasy Premier League scoring systems. Both datasets consistently demonstrate an inverted U-shaped age-productivity curve. Peak performance occurs at 27.8 years in the EPL and 30.1–30.5 years in LaLiga and Colombian leagues, according to OPTA data. The transfermarkt analysis confirms this pattern, showing peak performance at 29.9 years across South American leagues. The findings reveal a systematic shift toward older peak performance ages in modern football, attributed to advances in sports science, nutrition, and training methods. These results offer valuable insights for talent management, contract negotiations, and career planning in professional sports.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/15270025261427492

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@article{jorge2026,
  title        = {{The Role of Age in Labor Productivity How Age Matters in Professional Football}},
  author       = {Jorge Tovar},
  journal      = {Journal of Sports Economics},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/15270025261427492},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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