Issue number 519 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 50 nations in the world whose clubs have generated the most revenue over the last ten years from the international transfer of players trained in the country (including add-ons and sell-ons). France is clearly in the lead with €3.98 billion, an average of almost €400 million per year.

Clubs in two other countries have generated more than €2 billion from the international transfer of locally trained players over the last decade : Brazil (€2.60 billion) and Spain (€2.24 billion). Revenues exceeded €1 billion in six other countries : five European (Portugal, the Netherlands, England, Germany and Italy) and Argentina.

Transfers of players aged 20 or under account for almost one third of total revenue. Among the top 20 nations, this percentage is particularly high for Serbia (64.7%), Brazil (50.1%), Denmark (48.4%), Sweden (47.9%) and Belgium (43.8%). These figures reflect the early international transfer of players trained in these countries.

>>> Full data

The CIES Football Observatory is also happy to disclose its 7th Prospect Sheet in collaboration with Impect highlighting the great KRC Genk’s talent Konstantinos Karetsas.

As every year, the CIES Football Observatory has identified the clubs having trained* the players currently active in 49 leagues around the world to establish a ranking of the clubs with the best academies. The 518th Weekly Post presents the top 100 according to a training index taking into account the number of players trained, the level of the clubs they played for last year and the official game minutes played over the same period.

As last year, Benfica ranks first with 93 players trained active in the 49 leagues analysed, an average level of employment clubs of 0.81 and 2,582 minutes played on average in official matches over the last year. Barcelona (76 players, average club level of 0.87 and 2,773 minutes) and River Plate (97 players, average level of 0.81 and 2,305 minutes) complete the podium of the clubs with the best academies.

The top 10 includes a further Portuguese team (Sporting CP), another Spanish one (Real Madrid), two other Argentine clubs (Boca Juniors and Vélez Sarsfield), as well as Ajax from the Netherlands, Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia, and Defensor from Uruguay. Thirty countries are represented by at least one team in the top 100, the most represented nations being Argentina (15 clubs) and Brazil (11 clubs).

*Training clubs are defined as the first teams in which footballers have played for at least three years between the seasons of their 15th and 21st birthdays (inclusive).

>>> Top 100

This video illustrates the main changes that have taken place since 2010 in the composition of teams in thirty European top divisions in terms of squad size (increase), player height (also increasing), the proportion of club-trained footballers (decrease), that of expatriates (increase), the average age of first international migration (decrease), and the presence of newly recruited players (increase).

Thanks to the collaboration with Impect, the CIES Football Observatory has developed performance indices on a 100 basis in eight areas of play. This Weekly Post presents the 50 outfield footballers with the highest values in each domain for the last six-month domestic league games, with each player appearing only in the ranking for the area in which they scored highest.

The following players head the tables in the different areas : Virgil van Dijk (air defence), Moisés Caicedo (ground defence), Rúben Dias (defensive build-up), Pedri González (orchestration), Michael Olise (take on), Lamine Yamal (chance creation), Kylian Mbappé (finishing) and Erling Haaland (air attack).

The youngest players in the top 50 of each category are as follows : Eivind Helland (air defence), Agustín Medina (ground defence), Pau Cubarsí (defensive build-up), Warren Zaïre-Emery (orchestration), Estêvão Willian (take on), Lamine Yamal (chance creation), Franco Mastantuono (finishing) and Thierno Barry (air attack).

>>> Top 50s for the eight domains

>>> More about Impect

>>> More about the indices

The 516th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the clubs whose estimated transfer value of players owned has changed the most, positively or negatively, over the past year. We present both the change in absolute terms (‘gross’ evolution) and the change considering the financial balance of transfer operations (with sell-ons, not including add-ons) completed during the last two transfer windows (‘net’ evolution).

In terms of net evolution, Chelsea tops the list (+€364 million) with player valuations up €372m and a balanced net spending for the last two transfer windows : -€8m. The reigning world champions are ahead of the European ones, Paris St-Germain (+€303 million). German side Eintracht Francfort (+€294m) rounds up the podium. Manchester United (-€377 million) and Manchester City (-€315m) are at the opposite end of the table.

The Post also presents the estimated transfer value of all players owned by clubs (not including any sell-on related sums). In this case, the top three are Chelsea (€1.81 billion spread across 50 players), Real Madrid (€1.68 billion, 32 players) and Manchester City (€1.47 billion,46 players). Five other clubs have a total estimated value in excess of one billion : Arsenal, Paris St-Germain, Liverpool, Barcelona and Tottenham.

>>> Full data

>>> Top valued players per club in this tool

>>> More information on the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model for estimating transfer values in this scientific article

The 515th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 69 leagues around the world according to the average age of line-ups fielded in the current domestic league season. Not including B-teams, the lowest value overall was recorded for Latvian side FK Metta (20.96 years), while the highest was measured for Saudi Arabia’s Khaleej FC (31.62 years).

In the five major European leagues, the following teams fielded, so far, the youngest line-ups : Chelsea (Premier League, 24.36 years), Barcelona (La Liga, 25.22 years, ahead of Real Madrid, 25.67 years), RC Strasbourg (Ligue 1, 21.45 years, 2nd lowest value overall, ahead of Paris St-Germain, 24.09 years), Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga, 24.48 years) and Parma Calcio (Serie A, 24.26 years).

The Post also presents the percentage of minutes per age category (≤21, 22-25, 26-29, ≥30). Italian champions Napoli are the Champions League big-5 participant with the highest percentage of minutes by players aged 30 or over (46.8%, up to 84.5% for over 26-year-old players), ahead of Bayern Munich (36.0%, and 70.3% respectively). These proportions are much lower for Champions League title holders Paris St-Germain : 3.0% and 23.4%.

>>> Data for all teams

>>> More details about BlueCo’s policy in this video

>>> More exclusive demographic data in this Atlas

With the real Ballon d’Or to be awarded today by France Football, the CIES Football Observatory has had fun ranking the 100 best players in the world over the past year using a purely statistical method. The latter takes into account the performances of outfield footballers during the last year in six game areas (see here, data from Impect), as well their employment, matches’ sporting level and results (see here).

FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal ranks first ahead of Kylian Mbappé and his teammate Pedri González. The best centre back is Virgil van Dijk (4th), while Achraf Hakimi has the highest score among full/wing backs (9th overall). One of the favourites to win the real Ballon d’Or, Ousmane Dembélé, ranks seventh in this case, also behind Michael Olise and Mohamed Salah.

The three oldest players in the top 100 are Luka Modrić, Lionel Messi, and Nicolás Otamendi, while the youngest are Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and Désiré Doué. Virgil van Dijk tops the rankings in terms of experience, while the top three in terms of pure performance are Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi.

>>> Top 100