At club level, Real Madrid has invested the most to make up its current squad (536 million euro), followed by Manchester City (435) and Manchester United (395). In the remaining leagues, at the top of the tables are Paris St-Germain (366), Bayern Munich (233) and Juventus (214). Ten clubs spent less than 10 million euro to sign their current squad members. The lowest transfer expenditure in England was recorded for Crystal Palace (24 million euro).

For more information on the CIES Football Observatory, please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch. We also kindly remind you that a free excerpt of the freshly published Demographic Study 2014 is available on our website.

Bayern Munich, Atalanta and Arsenal head the rankings in the remaining leagues. This analysis coincides with the publication of the 6th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Demographic Study. An excerpt is available here.

For more information please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch

The Study shows that professional European football is still confronted with processes that do not necessarily augur well for its future. The cloud of economic stakes that hangs over sporting logics is flagrant in many clubs and countries. In general, the number of transfers carried out by teams during the current season is at an all-time high. A trend that is difficult to understand given the actual climate with its numerous financial difficulties.

The increasing speculation surrounding players’ transfers is also visible through the progressive drop in the number of club-trained players, which has attained its lowest level since 2009. Conversely, the percentage of expatriate players has risen for the second consecutive year. Here too, the figure has never been so high.

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Key figures

• Despite the regulations introduced in many countries and at UEFA club competition level, the relative presence of footballers playing for the club where they were trained reached a new record low: 21.2%.
• The percentage of expatriate players reached a new record high this season: 36.8%. The proportion of footballers who have already experienced international migration during their career was also never as high as for current season: 49.3%.
• The English Premier League has the second highest percentage of expatriate footballers (60.4%), just after Cyprus. Expatriates represent a majority of squads also in Italy, Turkey, Portugal and Belgium. The greatest proportion was measured at Inter Milan (89%).
• While Brazil remains the most represented foreign origin, the number of Brazilians decreased by 67 since 2009: from 538 to 471. France is the second nation with the highest number of expatriates in top division European leagues: from 247 to 306 (+59) during the last five seasons.
• A new record high was also registered with regard to the number of new signings. On average, players recruited from January 2013 onwards represent 41.3% of squads (10.2 signings per club).
• Transfer activity is much higher in Southern and Eastern Europe than in the northern part of the continent. Cyprus tops the ranking of the highest number of squad members signed after January 2013 (on average 14.1 per club). This figure is only 5.3 in Sweden.
• Italy and England top the table for the largest squads (26.8 players per club on average). Italian Serie A also gathers the most seasoned footballers (27.3 years) and the least percentage of club-trained players (8.4%).
• The tallest league is German Bundesliga (183.8cm), while the shortest is Spanish Liga (180.1cm). Barcelona has the second shortest squad (177.4cm) among the 472 clubs surveyed. Only Bnei Sakhnin (Israel) is composed of shorter players than the Catalan side.
• The highest percentage of players with national A-team caps in 2013 was recorded in England (44.3%). At club level, the greatest proportion of active internationals was registered at Chelsea (80%). The London club outranks Manchester City and Fenerbahçe.
• Barcelona has the most stable squad among European top division teams. Players in the Catalan club have been on average for 5.5 years in the first team squad. The average stay is above 5 years in only one other club: Manchester United.
• Finally, the CIES Football Observatory study confirms the excellent work undertaken by Ajax Amsterdam in the area of youth training. The Dutch side tops the table of clubs having trained the most players under contract with top division teams in Europe. With 69 representatives, Ajax outranks Partizan Belgrade, Barcelona, Hajduk Split and Sporting Lisbon.

While the percentage of minutes played by the 11 most fielded footballers of clubs currently on the podium in their respective league is 77.6%, this figure is only 71.9% for clubs in the relegation zone. Our analysis thus suggests that bad results encourage coaches to change more frequently their line-ups. Rather than improving results, this strategy tends often to aggravate the situation.

At club level, the lowest player turnover levels were measured at Borussia Mönchengladbach (88.6% minutes played by the 11 most fielded players), Atlético Madrid (86.1%) and Lille (84.3%). At the opposite end of the table are Catania (61.6%), Valencia (64.0%) and Real Betis (64.5%).

Next Tuesday, the 59th issue of the Big-5 Weekly Post will present exclusive data from the 2014 edition of the CIES Football Observatory Demographic Study.

For more information please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch

The rankings compare players according to key performance indicators exclusively developed by the CIES Football Observatory academic team using data provided by our partner Opta Pro. The indicators measure both the production and efficiency of players in six complementary areas of the game: shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution, recovery and rigour (see explanation below).

All the indicators are perfectly comparable at international level as they were developed by taking into account the differences between leagues in both the style of play and game intensity.

Luis Suárez outranks Cristiano Ronaldo (1st in Spain) and Neymar among the best performing strikers. In the remaining leagues, Carlos Tévez tops the table in Italy, Zlatan Ibrahimovi? in France and Marco Reus in Germany.

Franck Ribéry was the best performing offensive midfielder both in Germany and at big-5 league level, ahead of James Rodríguez (1st in France) and Miralem Pjani? (1st in Italy). In the other leagues, Samir Nasri tops the English table and Andrés Iniesta the Spanish one.

Paris St-Germain rising star Marco Verratti heads the ranking for central and defensive midifielders. The young Italian prodigy outperforms Gabi Fernández (1st in Spain) and Arturo Vidal (1st in Italy). Former full back Philipp Lahm ranks first in Germany, while Aaron Ramsey tops the English table.

Another very young player tops the table for full backs: David Alaba. In the other leagues, the best performing full backs were Douglas Maicon (Italy), Layvin Kurzawa (France), Pablo Zabaleta (England) and Dani Alves (Spain).

Finally, Giorgio Chiellini finishes top of the ranking for centre backs, ahead of Dante Bonfim (1st in Germany) and Leandro Castán. Alex da Silva heads the French table, Dejan Lovren the English one and Gerard Piqué was the best performing centre back in Spain.

More rankings are available in the 57th edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post. For more information, please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch

CIES Football Observatory key performance indicators

Shooting: ability to take advantage of goal opportunities through accurate shooting

Chance creation: ability to create goal opportunities through efficient passing

Take on: ability to create dangerous situations by successfully challenging opponents

Distribution: ability to hold the grip on the game through efficient passing

Recovery: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through proficient ball recovery

Rigour: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents by efficiently blocking their actions

Our analysis shows that French Ligue 1 clubs fielded more U21 players since the start of the season than teams in the four other big-5 leagues. On average, a Ligue 1 club plays with 1.61 footballers aged 21 or under. This figure is also relatively high in Germany (1.52) and Spain (1.24). Conversely, the rate of employment of U21 players per club is lower than one in Italy (0.96) and England (0.74).

In the English Premier League, only six clubs fielded on average more than one U21 player per match: Southampton (2.0), Swansea (1.8), Everton (1.8), Liverpool (1.4), Arsenal (1.3) and Manchester United (1.2). At the opposite end of the table is Chelsea. Mourinho’s team has not yet fielded a single U21 players during the current season.

The highest number of U21 players fielded among current top ranked team was registered for Paris St-Germain (2.6), while the lowest was recorded for Barcelona (0.8). Atlético Madrid also fielded relatively more U21 players than the Catalan side (2.2). Does Gerardo Martino feel less confident in Barcelona’s cantera players than his predecessors?

The data for each big-5 league club is presented in the 56th Big-5 Weekly Post which is now available here.

For more information please email us at football.observatory@cies.ch

This edition focuses on the performance of big-5 league footballers from the start of November until games of the last matchday.

The most surprising result is the first position in the Italian general ranking of Omar El Kaddouri, a Belgian-Moroccan 23 year-old attacking midfielder loaned by Napoli to Torino.

At the second place is the 19 year-old Domenico Berardi who already greatly contributed to the promotion achieved by Sassuolo last season. He was signed by Juventus during last transfer window, but remained on loan at Sassuolo in order to gain experience.

Several players signed at the start of the season have adapted perfectly to their new work environment and are to be found in the top 3 positions of the general table in their respective league: Navas (1st in England), Isco (1st in Spain), Bale (2nd in Spain), Thauvin (2nd in France) and Son (2nd in Germany).

Based on data provided by our partner OptaPro, the CIES Football Observatory rankings take into account pitch productivity in five key areas of the game: shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution and recovery (see below for more details). By weighting each indicator according to the strength of its correlation with club results, we obtain a general index highlighting the most decisive footballers.

The rankings of the best performing players in the five major European championships per area of the game can be found in the Big-5 Weekly Post. This can now be downloaded from the CIES Football Observatory website.

Methodological note: specifications of indicators

• Shooting measures the effectiveness of players to shoot and score goals, excluding penalties

• Chance creation refers to the ability of players to put teammates into shooting positions, with particular emphasis on goal assists

• Take on highlights footballers who are both productive and efficient in dribbling, crossing and winning corners

• Distribution refers to the ability of players to make accurate passes, above all in the opposition half

• Recovery brings to the fore players whose tackling and interceptions minimise the chances for opponents to score goals and shoot, especially from close range

Our analysis shows great differences between Northern (England, Germany) and Southern (Italy, France, Spain) European leagues.

In Germany, clubs have employed so far 4.4 players taller than 185cm on average. This figure is only 2.0 in Spain.

All clubs fielded at least one player over 185cm in height. However, four teams play on average with less than a footballer taller than 185 cm (Celta Vigo, Real Valladolid, Valenciennes and Montpellier).

Conversely, four teams are on average made up of a majority of players taller than 185cm (Stoke City, Hamburg, Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen).

Among current top ranked clubs, the lowest number of tall players was fielded by Barcelona (1.5 on average on the pitch), while the greatest was registered at Juventus (5.5).

The figures for all big-5 league clubs are available on the CIES Football Observatory website.

All interested users can now actively consult and access the trends observed in each of the big-5 leagues in relation to the following indicators:

• Average age

• Average height

• % of club-trained players

• % of full internationals

• % of expatriates

• Average stay

(More detailed descriptions for each indicator are available on the Football Observatory website)

For more information please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch

On another level, we are pleased to inform our European audience that the Football Research in Enlarged Europe (FREE) project has launched an online survey about what football means to Europeans in their daily lives. You are kindly invited to participate at this link

Our predictions are based on the analysis of player profile data from the perspective of “experience” (number of matches played and results achieved), “prolificacy” (number of goals scored and level of the competition) and “stability” (number of seasons with the employer club and years remaining on contract).

Using these indicators, we have classified teams by taking into account the 11 players with the highest scores (potential “starting 11”), as well as squad members ranked between the 12th and 22nd positions (“substitutes”). The final ranking has been estimated on the basis of the average position in the two tables. In case of equality, we ranked teams according to their overall score.

Manchester United and Paris St-Germain are the only two most probable champions ranked in first position for both “starting 11” and “substitute” players. While the competitive advantage of Borussia Dortmund is mainly related to the 11 players with the highest scores, and that of Juventus is due to the quality of substitutes. The same holds true for Real Madrid with respect to Barcelona.

Monaco is the only promoted team with a real chance of finishing the season in the top three of their domestic league. Conversely, this year many prestigious teams risk being sucked into a fight against relegation (Fulham, Levante, Valenciennes, Werder Bremen, Torino, etc.).

Using the indicators described above, we were also able to identify the players with the highest scores, and whose performance levels should have the greatest impact on results obtained by their respective teams (key players).

The full predictions may be downloaded from the CIES Football Observatory website. We are at your disposal for more information at football.observatory@cies.ch

With xxx million euro invested for new players, English teams were the most active. It is the highest level ever recorded. A new record high was also measured in France (383 million euro) and Germany (259 million).

The transfer expenditure of the 10 clubs that spent the most account for 49.2% of fees paid. This figure is at an all-time high and reflects the growing concentration of wealth in top level football. The percentage of fees paid by the three most active clubs per league varies from 85.8% in France to 45.6% in England.

More information is presented in the issue 45 of the Big-5 Weekly Post. For further enquiries, please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch

The new edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post is now available here (issue 44).

The Post includes the 20 latest paying transfers concerning players who were employed by big-5 league teams during the second semester of the season 2012/13.

The CIES Football Observatory estimation takes into account a multitude of variables such as players’ pitch performances (notably the number of matches and goals), length of contract remaining, age, position and international experience.

More information is presented in the 2013 edition of our Annual Review. The publication is on sale in the online shop of the International Centre for Sports Studies.

Students, academics and journalists may ask for a discount by writing to football.observatory@cies.ch