Issue number 489 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post forecasts the results up to the end of the season of teams in 42 leagues around the world according to their performance level. The latter was measured on the basis of a statistical model including the number and location of the passes and shots made and conceded so far by teams (Wyscout data), regardless of the results obtained.

In the five major European leagues, the best progress in terms of points per match should come from Toulouse and Monaco in Ligue 1 (with Auxerre and Strasbourg at the opposite end), Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga (RB Leipzig at the opposite), Cagliari and Como in Serie A (Empoli at the opposite), Tottenham and Manchester City in the Premier League (Newcastle at the opposite), as well as Girona and Getafe in La Liga (Leganés at the opposite).

Across all leagues, the greatest positive gaps between the points per match achieved so far and those predicted up until the season end were measured for Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia (+0.66), United Arab Emirates’ Al-Wasl FC (+0.54) and Cyprus’ APOEL FC (+0.5). Conversely, Serbia’s FK Mladost (-0.62), the Emiratis of Ittihad Kalba (-0.52) and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh SC (also -0.52) are expected to experience the biggest drops in form.

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The 488th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players who have scored the most goals in official club or national team matches (senior, U23 or U21) over the last year. Sporting CP’s Swede Viktor Gyökeres is clearly at the top of the list with no fewer than 64 goals: 54 for his club and 10 at national team level.

Erling Haaland (Manchester City and Norway) and Harry Kane (Bayern Munich and England) complete the podium with 52 and 47 goals respectively. In terms of goal frequency, the top three are Irishman Garbhan Coughlan of Cashmere Technical in New Zealand (one goal every 43 minutes), Japan’s Tomoyuki Doi of Geylang United in Singapore, and Uruguay’s Martín Cauteruccio of Sporting Cristal in Peru.

The Post also presents the rankings for the last two and three years. Over the last two years, nobody has scored more goals than Erling Haaland (101), while Kylian Mbappé tops the last-three-year list with 147 goals. The youngest player in last year’s top 100 is the Spaniard Chupete (Atlético Malagueño), while the evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr and Portugal) is the oldest.

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The 487th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the U23 players not yet in Europe’s big-5 who are most ready to take the next step in their careers. The selection is based on an index considering the footballers’ playing time over the last year, the sporting level of matches played, as well as their performances in six game areas (Wyscout data).

Sporting CP’s Belgian full international Zeno Debast tops the table with an index of 87.5 out of 100. Another centre back, PSV Eindhoven’s Dutchman Ryan Flamingo, ranks second, while his teammate Malik Tillman (86.2) round up the podium. Ukrainian Georgiy Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk) is fourth, ahead of Portugal’s Álvaro Carreras (Benfica). Sixth-placed Brazilian Wesley França (Flamengo) is the top-ranked player outside Europe.

The Post presents the overall top 100, as well as the ten highest-ranked players in 60 leagues worldwide. The following footballers head the rankings in their respective league: Christos Tzolis (Belgium), Manfred Ugalde (Russia), Mario Mitaj (Saudi Arabia), Martin Vitík (Czech Republic), Oscar Gloukh (Austria), Victor Guzmán (Mexico), Thiago Fernández (Argentina) and Semih Kiliçsoy (Turkey). For all players, the Post also unveils the estimated transfer value.

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>>> More information on the technical analysis of performance

>>> Scientific paper on the statistical model for transfer estimates

The CIES Football Observatory is the world leader in the scientific evaluation of professional players’ transfer values. Issue number 486 of the Weekly Post presents the 100 best-valued footballers in the world today. Englishman Jude Bellingham, under contract with Real Madrid until 2029, tops the list with a value of €251 million.

Manchester City’s Norwegian Erling Haaland (€221m) and Real Madrid’s Brazilian Vinícius Júnior (€206m) complete the podium despite contracts extending only until 2027. Fourth-placed Spaniard Lamine Yamal (€180m) is tied to his club for even less time (June 2026), which would facilitate a possible departure from Barcelona. Now aged 26, despite a contract with Real Madrid until 2029, Kylian Mbappé’s transfer value (€175m) is only the fifth-highest.

Three Premier League players, England’s Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, one from the Bundesliga, Germany’s Florian Wirtz, and a fourth Real Madrid footballer, Brazil’s Rodrygo, also feature in the top 10. The highest value for goalkeepers was recorded for Bart Verbruggen (Brighton & Hove), while Joško Gvardiol (Manchester City) tops the list for defenders and Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP) for players from outside the big-5.

>>> Top 100

>>> Best-valued player per club in 65 leagues worldwide

>>> Scientific paper on the CIES Football Observatory method

Thanks to the collaboration with Wyscout, the CIES Football Observatory has developed a robust and innovative method for comparing player performance. This report presents the footballers from 65 leagues around the world born in 2004 or later with the best performance index in the current or last completed season for the leagues alredy finished.

The performance index used to establish rankings is calculated on a 100-basis from player activity in six areas of the game: ground defence, aerial play, distribution, chance creation, take on and finishing. This other study details the methodology exclusively developed to measure performance in each of these areas.

The scouting report presents the 20 best performing young footballers for 20 categories defined according to players’ main position and technical characteristics. For each player, we alspo present his estimated transfer value according to the exclusive CIES Football Observatory statistical model. At the top of the list in their respective categories are:

Goalkeepers: Guillaume Restes (Toulouse) and Rome Jayden Owusu-Oduro (AZ Alkmaar).

Centre backs: Abdukodir Khusanov (Lens), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) and Taras Mykhavko (Dynamo Kyiv).

Full/wing backs: Jorrel Hato (Ajax), Malick Diouf (Slavia Prague), Oliver Braude (Heerenveen), Martim Fernandes (Porto) and Geovany Quenda (Sporting CP).

Midfielders: Warren Zäire-Emery (Paris St-Germain), Aleksandar Pavlović (Bayern Munich), João Neves (Paris St-Germain), Kendry Paez (Independente del Valle) and Aleksey Batrakov (Lokomotiv Moskow).

Wingers: Kenan Yildiz (Juventus), Thiago Fernández (Vélez Sarsfield), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) and Arda Güler (Real Madrid).

Centre forwards: Samu Aghehowa (Porto) and Kauã Elias (Fluminense).

>>> Top 20s per category (update if the file is not displayed)

The 485th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 20 outfield footballers in 66 leagues around the world who played the most official game minutes in 2024, either for clubs (at senior level only) or national teams (A, U23 or U21). Up to December 15, the most-used outfield player in absolute terms is FC Barcelona’s French international Jules Koundé: 5,872 minutes spread over 69 matches.

Fluminense’s Colombian Jhon Arias and Real Madrid’s Uruguayan Federico Valverde complete the podium. The next three places are occupied by players over the age of 30: Dutchman Virgil van Dijk (33.4), Argentina’s Nicolás Otamendi (36.8) and Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka (32.2). Reading FC’s New Zealander Tyler Bindon is the only footballer under the age of 20 in the top 100, demonstrating the sensitivity of coaches when it comes to balancing the efforts of younger players.

Also with respect to the top 100 outfield players overall, a clear majority of minutes were played in domestic club competitions: 73.2% of the total. The remaining playing time spread almost equally between international club competitions and national teams: 15.1% for the former and 13.4% for the latter (including the Olympic Games). These reports provide more exclusive analysis on the hot topics of match calendar and player workload.

>>> Top 20 per league