Positional aging and scoring opportunity in elite football: Multilevel evidence from expected goals, performance trajectories, and tactical roles across Europe’s top five leagues

Journal of Applied Sports Sciences 10(1): 95-111, doi: 10.37393/JASS.2026.10.01.8

Kofi Nyantakyi Nyantakyi Appiah^‡§, Divyanshu Kumar Singh^‡, Nathanael Adu^|, Edward Edem Nartey^¶

‡ Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India§ Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana| Mampong Technical College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana¶ University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

Corresponding author: Kofi Nyantakyi Appiah ( nyantakyi.appiah@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Milena Kuleva

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, and the original author and source are credited. Adapted content must be distributed under the same license

Citation: Appiah KN, Singh DK, Adu N, Nartey EE (2026) Positional aging and scoring opportunity in elite football: Multilevel evidence from expected goals, performance trajectories, and tactical roles across Europe’s top five leagues. Journal of Applied Sports Sciences 10(1): 95-111. https://doi.org/10.37393/JASS.2026.10.01.8

Abstract

In elite football, player age and playing position inﬂ uence performance. This study examined the relationship between age and playing position on expected goals per 90 minutes (xG/90) among 1411 professional soccer players (M = 26.05 years, SD = 5.22, range = 17-40 years) in Europe’s top fi ve leagues. A linear mixed model analyzed the relationship between age (both linear and quadratic terms), playing position (midfi elder, forward, defender), and xG/90. A signifi cant diff erence in xG/90 was found between forwards and defenders (β = 0.206, 95% CI = [0.193, 0.219]; p < .001). A small, statistically signifi cant positive association was also observed between age and xG/90 (β = 0.002; p = .007). No evidence indicated a nonlinear decrease in xG/90. Age-related patterns were consistent across all playing positions. After controlling for xG/90, neither age nor position predicted actual goals per 90 minutes. Overall, this cross-sectional study indicates that tactical experience and positional deployment may be the primary drivers of age-related diff erences in scoring ability.

Keywords

Expected Goals (xG), Positional Age Effects, Multilevel Modeling, Elite Football, Performance Trajectories