The impact of league quality and player distribution on the performance of women’s national football teams

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of league quality and player distribution on the women’s football performance of national teams. 50 European teams for three consecutive seasons (2021-2024) were analyzed. The league rankings and player distribution of 50 European countries were obtained through the official websites, the scores were assigned according to the respective leagues/clubs rankings, and finally correlation and regression analyses were conducted to analyze the league rankings, the league distribution rankings, and the rankings of the top clubs of each women’s national team. The results show that the league ranking, player league distribution, and player top club distribution have a highly positive correlation with FIFA world ranking in the past three seasons, and the R values are all greater than 0.7. The results of linear regression analysis show that the league ranking, the player distribution of league and top clubs have a significant positive influence on FIFA ranking, among which the leagues distribution has the highest degree of explanation for FIFA ranking (Adjusted R ² =0.685, CI:1.878-2.762, P<0.001***). Therefore, these information encourages countries with lower rankings should prioritize league development and enhance the competitiveness of their football leagues to cultivate elite players.