Anthropometric Assessment of Nutritional Status among Young Football Athletes
Keywords:
Nutritional Status, BMI-For-Age, Young Football Athletes, Anthropometry, Youth FootballAbstract
Background: Nutritional status is an important component of growth and development in young football athletes. Differences in growth and maturation may result in variations in nutritional status among athletes of similar age. Objective: This study aimed to describe the nutritional status of early-age football athletes at SSB Jaguar Muda Malang. Methods: This descriptive study involved 21 male football athletes aged 10–13 years at SSB Jaguar Muda Malang, selected using total sampling. Body weight and height were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI), and nutritional status was determined using BMI-for-age Z-scores based on the WHO 2007 reference. Results: Of the 21 athletes assessed, 13 athletes (61.9%) had normal nutritional status, 7 athletes (33.3%) were classified as overweight, and 1 athlete (4.8%) was classified as obese. Thus, 8 athletes (38.1%) had excess nutritional status. These findings indicate that although most athletes had normal nutritional status, a considerable proportion had excess nutritional status. Conclusion: Most early-age football athletes at SSB Jaguar Muda Malang had normal nutritional status. However, the presence of overweight and obese athletes highlights the importance of regular anthropometric and nutritional monitoring to support healthy growth and sustainable athlete development.
References
Desbrow, B. (2021). Youth athlete development and nutrition. Sports Medicine, 51(Suppl. 1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01534-6
Dumitrescu, A. S., Alexandru, A., & Brîndescu, S.-O. (2026). Associations between nutrition knowledge, body composition, and cardiopulmonary exercise performance in adolescent football players. Sports, 14(6), 231. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports14060231
Dut, R., Akgül, S., Dönmez, G., Ulkar, B., Kanbur, N., & Derman, O. (2023). Adolescent male soccer players have higher growth rates and risk of injury is associated with biological maturity. Turkish Journal of Pediatrics, 65(6), 990–1001. https://doi.org/10.24953/turkjped.2023.140
França, C., Gouveia, É. R., Martins, F., Ihle, A., Henriques, R., Marques, A., Sarmento, H., Przednowek, K., & Lopes, H. (2024). Lower-body power, body composition, speed, and agility performance among youth soccer players. Sports, 12(5), 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports12050135
Hernandez-Martin, A., Garcia-Unanue, J., Martínez-Rodríguez, A., Manzano-Carrasco, S., Felipe, J. L., Carvalho, M. J., Gallardo, L., & Sánchez-Sánchez, J. (2021). The effects of football practice on nutritional status and body composition in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients, 13(8), 2562. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082562
Irwin, N., Ó Catháin, C., Ward, C., & Kelly, D. T. (2026). Dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, and behavior in youth team sport athletes: A scoping review and call to advance research and practice. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 23(1), 2671431. https://doi.org/10.1080/15502783.2026.2671431
Leão, C., Silva, A. F., Badicu, G., Clemente, F. M., Carvutto, R., Greco, G., Cataldi, S., & Fischetti, F. (2022). Body composition interactions with physical fitness: A cross-sectional study in youth soccer players. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3598. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063598
Lei, Y., Ding, Y., Wang, B., et al. (2026). Effects of recreational football on body composition, cardiometabolic health, and functional performance in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology, 16, 1707395. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2025.1707395
Mardiana, M., Al Amien, T. N., & Amaliana, R. (2023). Food intake, percent body fat, and nutritional status at football academy in Pati Regency. Proceedings of the International Conference on Sports and Physical Education. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.29-6-2022.2326093
Norris, S. A., Frongillo, E. A., Black, M. M., Dong, Y., Fall, C., Lampl, M., Lye, S., Patton, G. C., & Patton, G. C. (2022). Nutrition in adolescent growth and development. The Lancet, 399(10320), 172–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01590-7
North, M., Kelly, A. L., Ranchordas, M. K., & Cole, M. (2022). Nutritional considerations in high-performance youth soccer: A systematic review. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, 4, 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-022-00171-3
Portella, D. L., Vidal-Espinoza, R., Sulla-Torres, J., Castelli Correia de Campos, L. F., Gomez-Campos, R., & Cossio-Bolaños, M. (2023). Reference values for body composition and physical fitness of young Brazilian elite soccer players. Frontiers in Physiology, 14, 1285952. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1285952
Stables, R. G., Hannon, M. P., Costello, N. B., McHaffie, S. J., Sodhi, J. S., Close, G. L., & Morton, J. P. (2024). Acute fuelling and recovery practices of academy soccer players: Implications for growth, maturation, and physical performance. Science and Medicine in Football, 8(1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2022.2146178
Sta?kiewicz, W., Grochowska-Niedworok, E., Zydek, G., Grajek, M., Krupa-Kotara, K., Bia?ek-Dratwa, A., Jaruga-S?kowska, S., Kowalski, O., & Kardas, M. (2023). The assessment of body composition and nutritional awareness of football players according to age. Nutrients, 15(3), 705. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15030705
Tornero-Aguilera, J. F., Villegas-Mora, B. E., & Clemente-Suárez, V. J. (2022). Differences in body composition analysis by DEXA, skinfold and BIA methods in young football players. Children, 9(11), 1643. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9111643
Toselli, S., Grigoletto, A., Mauro, M., et al. (2024). Anthropometric, body composition and physical performance of elite young Italian football players and differences between selected and unselected talents. Heliyon, 10(16), e35992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35992
Vicente, F., Anastácio, L., Monteiro, A., Brito, J., Ramalho, R., & Pereira, P. (2025). Effectiveness of a nutrition education programme on nutritional knowledge in young football players: A pilot study. Nutrients, 17(15), 2404. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17152404
Victoria-Montesinos, D., García-Muñoz, A. M., Mercader-Ros, M. T., Jaraba-Salinero, Y., & Figueroa-Morales, F. (2026). Nutrition education and behavioral interventions in youth team-sport and related development settings: A systematic review of nutrition knowledge, dietary behaviors, hydration, body composition, and performance. Frontiers in Nutrition, 13, 1939289. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2026.1939289
Widyahening, I. S., et al. (2023). Behavioural and environmental risk factors associated with primary schoolchildren's overweight and obesity in urban Indonesia. Public Health Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023000897
World Health Organization. (2007). WHO reference 2007: Growth reference data for 5–19 years. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2025). BMI-for-age (5–19 years). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/toolkits/growth-reference-data-for-5to19-years/indicators/bmi-for-age
World Health Organization. (2025). Child growth standards: Questions and answers. World Health Organization.
Zaccagni, L., Reggiani, M., Toselli, S., & Gualdi-Russo, E. (2025). Changes in body composition and body image perception in adolescent soccer players examined with repeated measurements during pre-season and in-season training. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 10(2), 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10020219
Zydek, G., Kardas, M., & Sta?kiewicz-Bartecka, W. (2025). Perfectionism, orthorexia nervosa, and body composition in young football players: A cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 17(3), 523. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030523
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Bonifasius Alfadika Hartanto, Galang Eka Putra Matadi, Muhammad Rosyiful Annas, Wahyu Daud Zulkarnain
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
