Soccer Knowledge for Optimal Resilience and Athletic Performance in Female Youth (the SKORA project)

In recent decades, the number of women in the world of sports has increased enormously with a rise in the sport of football. At the same time, the high performance and good results of the Icelandic football national teams have attracted attention,especially, the results of the junior national teams. This success among female players has encouraged more researchers to explore sport performance and skills among girls. However, previous studies have almost exclusively focused on the performance, fitness and skills of boys in football

This research project holds significant novelty and practical importance as, to our knowledge, no analogous study has been undertaken among girls in Europe. While Iceland has seen few studies of this scale in the field of sports science, no previous studies have examined the in-depth physical, mental, and tactical qualities of young girl football players.

This cross-sectional cohort study was conducted between April and June 2024 in Reykjavík, Iceland, targeting 12-year-old female soccer players. The study serves as the baseline data collection for a longitudinal project titled: Soccer Knowledge for Optimal Resilience and Athletic Performance in Female Youth (the SKORA project). The research involved collaboration with ten local soccer clubs across the greater Reykjavík area, selected for their geographic diversity to represent the region and included players and coaches of varying levels. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate a range of factors including physical performance, sport-specific skills, body composition, and maturation in female soccer players. Physical performance assessments and questionnaires were conducted at participants’ team facilities in April and May 2024.

Fjórir meistaranemar eru að skrifa upp úr gögnunum rannsóknarinnar. Einnig eru rannsakendur verkefnisins að safna saman gögnum og munu fyrstu niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar vera kynntar vorið 2025.