ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2026
Associations among age, playing position, dribbling, agility, and passing skills in elite youth football players graduating from a high-performance academy: an observational study.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Developing technical and motor skills during adolescence is critical for long-term football performance. This study aimed to examine the relationships between passing skill, dribbling skill, and agility performance in elite young football players and to determine whether these relationships differ according to playing position and age group. A total of 242 male football players aged between U14 and U19, competing in the academy teams of four professional clubs, participated in the study. Dribbling performance and agility were assessed using the Illinois Dribbling Test (IDT) and Illinois Agility Test (IAT), respectively, while passing skill was evaluated using the Loughborough Passing Test (LPT). Analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a moderate and significant relationship between dribbling performance and agility (r = .482, p < .001, 95% CI [0.38, 0.57]). In addition, dribbling performance was significantly and positively correlated with passing skill (r = .234, p < .001, 95% CI [0.11, 0.35]), and agility performance showed a low but significant positive correlation with passing skill (r = .154, p = .016, 95% CI [0.03, 0.27]). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that dribbling and agility performances together explained a low but significant proportion of the variance in passing skill [F(2,239) = 7.207, p < .001, R² = 0.057].In conclusion, monitoring the development of elite youth football players using objective and quantitative performance indicators is of great importance for coaches and sports scientists. The findings indicate that passing, dribbling, and agility performances are significantly interrelated across all age categories, highlighting the integrated nature of technical and motor skill development in youth football. Based on these findings, incorporating passing, dribbling, and agility skills together within youth football training programs appears to be important for supporting holistic technical and motor skill development.
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