Issue number 509 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks the agencies representing Europe’s big-5 league players according to the aggregate transfer value of their clients as per our exclusive statistical model. According to publicly available information, one agency manages the careers of players worth more than two billion euros : the CAA Stellar/Base group, the result of a consolidation process led by the Americans of Creative Artists Agency.

Two other agencies represent players with a combined transfer value in excess of €1 billion : the Portuguese of Gestifute and another American company, also based in Los Angeles, Wasserman Group. Like CAA, Wasserman Group has acquired a dominant position in the player representation market through the purchase of a number of smaller but influential agent companies, both in Europe and beyond.

Both CAA Stellar/Base and the Wasserman Group represent the interests of more than 100 players from the five major European leagues, making them essential companies for clubs. Gestifute, on the other hand, focuses on a smaller elite of players. Only agencies representing at least two players from the big-5 have been included in the rankings. Agents who only represent members of their family have not been taken into account either.

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The 508th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 teams in the world with the most subscriptions on the following social networks : X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The Spanish side of Real Madrid tops the list with over 470 million subscriptions, just ahead of their great rivals Barcelona (424 million).

All the other clubs are much further behind. Manchester United completes the podium with 234 million, while Paris St-Germain is fourth with 199 million. In the top 10 are four other English teams (Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal), one German (Bayern Munich) and one Italian (Juventus).

The podium for non-European clubs is made up of Brazil’s Flamengo, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and Egypt’s Al-Ahly. The Post also presents the trends recorded since June 2024 (without YouTube). In relative terms, the biggest increase among the top 100 clubs was registered for Santos (+82%), certainly thanks to the recruitment of star player Neymar.

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Following the extension of his contract until 2031, FC Barcelona’s prodigy Lamine Yamal has become the player with the highest value on the transfer market according to the CIES Football Observatory statistical model: €402.3 million. This extraordinary figure is linked to equally extraordinary performances achieved at an age - 18 in July - when most players, even the best, are just starting out at professional level. Top 100 here.

Norway’s Erling Haaland (€239.6m) and England’s former leader Jude Bellingham (€233.8m) complete the podium of the best-valued players, ahead of Frenchman Kylian Mbappé (€192.5m), who also is the oldest player in the top 10 (26.5 years). The English Premier League is by far the most represented in the top 100 (42 players), followed by the Spanish Liga (19). Paris St-Germain, on the other hand, is the most represented club (11 players).

The highest values for defensive positions were recorded for Bart Verbruggen (€64.3m) among goalkeepers, Pau Cubarsí (€118.0m) for centre backs and Joško Gvardiol for full/wing backs (€100.7m). Only four of the top 100 footballers play outside the five major European leagues : two in Portugal (Samu Aghehowa and Viktor Gyökeres), one in Brazil (Estêvão Willian, already contracted by Chelsea) and one in Saudi Arabia (Jhon Durán).

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The 506th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the most influential footballers of the season in 60 leagues around the world. The index used to rank the players is calculated on the basis of their performances in six areas of the game thanks to the data exclusively produced by our partners Impect, the minutes played and the results obtained.

The highest score overall was recorded for Mohamed Salah, ahead of two Barcelona players: Lamine Yamal and Pedri González. Two other Liverpool footballers top the list for defensive positions: Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) heads the rankings for attacking midfielders, while Kylian Mbappé is ahead of Viktor Gyökeres for centre forwards.

The six areas of the game considered are aerial play (with Alexander Sörloth at the top of the list), ground defence (Moisés Caicedo), distribution (Nico Schlotterbeck), take on (Vinícius Júnior), chance creation (Lamine Yamal) and finishing (Ousmane Dembélé). Yamal aside, three other U20s feature among the 300 players listed (50 per position): Estêvão Willian (Palmeiras, on loan from Chelsea), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) and Jorrel Hato (Ajax).

>>> Top 50s per position

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Issue number 505 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 100 of associations having exported the greatest number of footballers to 135 leagues around the world between 2020 and 2025. With no fewer than 3,020 distinct expatriates, Brazil is ahead of the last two World Cup winners : France (2,293) and Argentina (2,171).

In the top ten is a third South American country, Colombia, an African nation, Nigeria, and five additional European ones : England (notably due to the strong presence of English players in other British associations), Spain, Germany, Serbia and Croatia. The biggest increase between 2020 and 2025 in absolute terms was recorded for France (+372 expatriates), followed by Argentina (+216) and Nigeria (+181).

The 100th Monthly Report presents in greater detail the trends in the number of expatriates for the main exporting nations, as well as the main destinations and changes observed. Also available free of charge, the Migration Atlas is a valuable tool for understanding the global geography of footballer flows. For all these studies, the origin of the players was established on the basis of the association where they grew up.

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The 504th edition of the Weekly Post presents the 100 players who changed clubs permanently during the last two transfer windows and whose current value would enable the teams owning them to make the biggest capital gains. Top of the list is Kylian Mbappé, who was signed for no transfer fee by Real Madrid last summer and is now valued at €182.5 million by the CIES Football Observatory statistical model.

Bournemouth centre back and new Spanish full international Dean Huijsen comes second with a potential capital gain of €68.5 million, although this does not take into account any eventual buy-out clauses negotiated last summer when he signed his contract with the English side. Manchester City’s Brazilian winger Savinho, also recruited a year ago at an affordable price, rounds off the podium with a potential capital gain of €59.9 million.

In the top five also are Frenchman Michael Olise (+€47.8 million) and Italy’s Moise Kean (+€41.7 m). To the extent of the information available, the sums mentioned take into account all add-ons regardless of their effective payment, as well as the eventual sell-on fees negotiated by previous clubs. All the details on the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model to asses players’ transfer values can be found in this scientific article.

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