Issue number 356 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the data produced by our partners SkillCorner to unveil the average sprinting (>7.0 m/s or 25.2 km/h) distance per team in 27 leagues worldwide. The values stretch from 2.23km at Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United to only 1.04km at the Ukrainian side Metalist 1925 Kharkiv.

In only five teams among the 492 surveyed, players sprinted for more than 2 kilometres per match: the Swiss and Champions League side BSC Young Boys, the Dutch clubs SC Cambuur and Heracles Almelo, as well as the English Championship leaders AFC Bournemouth. Athletic Club (1.99km) tops the table in the Spanish Liga, Milan AC (1.91km) in the Italian Serie A, AS Monaco (1.89km) in the French Ligue 1 and Bayern Munich (1.85km) in the German Bundesliga.

The average sprinting distance per league vary from 1.70km in Swiss Super League and 1.26km in Scottish Premiership, with an overall average of 1.51km per team and match. The highest value at big-5 league level was recorded in the Spanish Liga (1.68km), while the lowest was measured in the German Bundesliga (1.47km). Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for more exclusive football data analysis.

After the drop in 2020 within the context of the pandemic, the part of players imported from abroad in the squads of teams from 31 European top divisions has started to rise again. This is one of the main findings from the annual census carried out since 2009 by the CIES Football Observatory research team, published in the 69th edition of the Monthly Report.

Expatriate footballers currently represent 41.9% of players in the 473 clubs surveyed. For the first time in history, players having grown up outside of the association of their employer club represent the majority of footballers within the five major European championships, with a maximum of 60.6% in the Italian Serie A and a minimum of 38.1% in the Spanish Liga. The greatest proportion of expatriates overall was recorded in Cyprus (69.9%).

Despite the growth of expatriates, the presence of club-trained players has also continued to increase after the pandemic. However, the percentage footballers having been in their employer club for at least three seasons between 15 and 21 years of age remains much lower than in 2009: 18.0% as opposed to 23.1%. The slight recent increase is chiefly explained by the rise observed in the least competitive leagues, where clubs suffered the most from the pandemic.

The proportion of players recruited during the year decreased for the fourth consecutive time, reflecting a less frenetic transfer market. The percentage of new signings among squad members went down from 44.9% in 2017 to 40.4% in 2021. The longest average stay in the first team squad of the employer club was recorded for CSKA Moscow (4.83 years), followed by Real Madrid, Athletic Club, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Manchester City.

The full report is available for free here. Further data for the current season taking into account the employment rate of each player is accessible in the exclusive CIES Football Observatory Demographic Atlas. Please write us for more information.

Issue number 355 of the Weekly Post ranks big-5 league clubs according to the CIES Football Observatory’s Sustainable Squad Management (SSM) Index. The latter highlights teams built to last by combining players’ age (the younger, the better), average stay in the first team squad (the longer, the better) and contract duration (the longer, the better). The employment rate of each is also considered as a weighting factor (more minutes, greater importance).

Manchester City, Real Sociedad and Liverpool currently hold the most sustainable squads. Guardiola’s team fields slightly younger line-ups than big-5 league rivals (27.06 years vs 27.13). Moreover, players fielded have been for much longer in the first team squad (3.32 years vs 2.34) and have much longer contracts (3.32 years vs 2.30). The Basques field much younger line-ups (25.62 years) and their values in terms of stability (3.04 years) and contract duration (2.49 years) also are above the average.

Spezia Calcio fielded so far the youngest line-ups (24.61 years), while the longest average stay for players fielded was recorded for Burnley (4.07 years). The longest “on the pitch” average contract remaining duration was measured for Arsenal (3.69 years). The Gunners also field by far the youngest line-ups in the English Premier League (24.86 years). However, their stability is for now well below the big- 5 league average (1.75 years only). More information on the SSM Index is available here.

Issue number 354 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the most active dribblers in 33 leagues worldwide according to the data of our partners InStat. Only players having attempted at least 40 dribbles in the current season (or in 2021 for the Brazilian Serie A) are included in the rankings. A dribble is defined as an active action performed by a player in order to get through an opponent.

Players are ranked according to a Dribble Index, i.e. the percentage of successful dribbles divided by the dribbling attempt frequency (minutes of play per dribble). Then highest score overall was recorded for Wolverhampton Spanish winger Adama Traoré (11.2), ahead of Universidad de Chile’s Argentinean Nahuel Luján (9.7) and CSKA Moskow’s Nigerian Chidera Ejuke (9.3).

At the top of the rankings in the other main major leagues are Erick de Arruda (Cearà SC) in Brazil, Rafael Leão (Milan AC) in Italy, Kamaldeen Sulemana (Stade Rennais) in France, Cody Gakpo (PSV Eindhoven) in the Netherlands, Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) in Germany, Jordan Carrillo (Santos Laguna) in Mexico, Ivo Rodrigues (Famalicão FC) in Portugal and Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid) in Spain.

AFC Ajax tops the CIES Football Observatory 2021 rankings of clubs having trained the most footballers playing in 31 top divisions of UEFA member countries. The Dutch team nurtured 81 players currently active in these championships, six more than Shakhtar Donetsk. Real Madrid and Barcelona co-head the table for players active in the five major European leagues (42). The top 100s are accessible for free here.

The CIES Football Observatory also developed the Training Index, an indicator weighting the number of players trained according to the sporting level of their employer clubs (through a coefficient based on domestic league and international club competitions results), their employment rate (over the last year), as well as their age (the younger, the better). Ajax also tops this table for players in the 31 European top divisions surveyed, ahead of Sporting Clube de Portugal and Real Madrid.

The highest Training Index when only considering big-5 league footballers was recorded for Real Madrid, ahead of FC Barcelona and Paris St-Germain. Ajax, Sporting Clube and Anderlecht are the best-ranked non big-5 league teams. As per UEFA definition, training clubs are those where footballers have played for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. The season during which players celebrated their 15th and 21st birthday are also included.

Issue number 352 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 41 leagues worldwide according to the ratio between big chances created and conceded as per data from our partners InStat. A big chance defines a clear-cut chance to score a goal. Partizan Belgrade (5.0) recorded the best ratio out of the 680 clubs surveyed, ahead of AFC Ajax (4.3) and RB Salzburg (4.1).

Manchester City tops the table for the five major European leagues with a ratio of 3.3. Guardiola’s side creates on average 8.4 big chances per game, while only conceding 2.6 to their opponents. Bayern Munich (3.0) and Paris St-Germain (2.4) complete the podium for the big-5, while Everton is fourth (2.3). At the bottom of the rankings are Granada, Greuther Fürth, Norwich City and Southampton.

River Plate is the most dominant team in the Argentinean top division with a big chance ratio of 2.5, ahead of Club Estudiantes, Vélez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors. In Brazil, Flamengo (1.8) outranks CA Mineiro, Fortaleza EC and Ceará SC. Per league, the number of big chances per game vary between 13.6 in the Swiss Super League down to only 8.4 in the Romanian Liga I.

Since last summer, the CIES Football Observatory has had the pleasure of working with the French leading company SkillCorner, specialised in the generation of physical data on football players. The 68th Monthly Report analyses the distances covered, notably according to running speed, for 7,855 matches played during the 2020 or 2020/21 seasons in 31 leagues from both Europe and America.

The study shows that players from European teams tend to cover more ground than those from South American clubs, which reflects a more rapid playing style. However, the gaps between the competitions analysed are not very marked. The values per outfield player and match stretch from 10.3km for the Spanish Liga and 9.6km in the Brazilian Serie A.

A significant link exists between the players’ age and distances covered, whether for total distance or that ran in high intensity (> 19.8 km/h). The strongest relation was recorded between the forwards’ age and high-speed runs. This finding confirms that the propensity of strikers to cover distances at high intensity decreases over the years, revealing the advantage of having young forwards in the squad.

Important differences at the level of total distances covered and the speed of runs also exist between positions. Midfielders run the most (10.6km per match on average), while centre backs the least (9.2km). Wingers cover the greatest distance both in high intensity (932m) and when sprinting (211m). In these cases too, the lowest figures were measured for centre backs.

Full study for free & more on our Twitter account

Issue number 351 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks clubs in 31 top divisions from UEFA member associations according to the percentage of domestic league minutes played by expatriates. The highest value overall was recorded for the Greek side Aris FC (98.4% of minutes), while Udinese Calcio (88.0%) tops the rankings for big-5 league clubs ahead of Chelsea FC (86.8%).

LOSC Lille, RB Leipzig and Atlético Madrid are the most foreign-oriented clubs in the other three major European championships, while Rangers FC tops the table in Scotland, Boavista FC in Portugal, Fatih Karagümrük in Turkey and SBV Vitesse in the Netherlands. The notion of expatriates refers to footballers who grew up in a different association from that of the employer club.

Only two teams out of the 474 surveyed did not field any expatriate player in domestic league games: the Ukrainian side FK Desna and the Basques of Athletic Club. The CIES Football Observatory is also happy to unveil that an improved version of the Demographic Atlas with current season’s data is now available here. Enjoy the tool!

Issue number 350 of the Weekly Post presents the estimated squad transfer values of the 98 teams in the big-5. The figures were calculated on the basis of the exclusive CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The two teams having invested the most to sign their current players, Manchester City and Manchester United, also are at the top of those with the highest estimated squad value.

The Manchester teams would potentially collect more than €1.2 billion in transfer indemnities if they decided put all their current squad members on the market. Chelsea completes the podium with an estimated squad value of €946 million. Barcelona heads the rankings in the Spanish Liga (€896M), Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga (€890M), Paris St-Germain in the French Ligue 1 (€808M) and Juventus in the Italian Serie A (€618M).

The estimated transfer value of all English Premier League players totals €8.9 billion (€445M per team on average). For the other leagues of the big-5, these figures are €5.3 billion for the Spanish Liga (€263M per club), €4.5 billion for the German Bundesliga (€251M), €4.4 billion for the Italian Serie A (€222M) and €3.4 billion for the French Ligue 1 (€172M). The individual estimates for all big-5 league players are available here.

Issue number 349 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 72 top divisions worldwide according to the average age of line-ups fielded in the current season and the percentage of minutes played by footballers who did not yet celebrate their 21st birthday. Monaco played so far with the youngest line-ups in the five major European leagues (24.3 years), while Bayer Leverkusen fielded U21 players for the highest percentage of minutes (24%).

With 23% of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers, Barcelona ranks second in the big-5 ahead of four French Ligue 1 teams (Nice, Rennes, Marseille and Reims). Arsenal fielded so far the youngest line-ups in the English Premier League (25.0 years), while Spezia did so in the Italian Serie A (24.8 years) and Real Sociedad in the Spanish Liga (25.5 years). At the opposite end for each big-5 league are Lazio (30.3), Elche (29.9), Burnley (29.3), Bochum (28.7) and Clermont Foot (28.0).

The Latvian side FK Metta fielded the youngest line-ups overall (20.2 years on average) and the Armenians of BKMA Yerevan top the table for the highest percentage of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers (79%). On the contrary, 89 of the 1’041 teams surveyed did not field any U21 player, among which Wolfsburg, Newcastle United, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, West Ham United, Rangers FC, Trabzonspor, Mamelodi Sundowns, Columbus Crew and Al Hilal SFC.

The 348th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the forecasts for the 2021/22 season at the level of the five major European leagues. The statistical model used for this purpose includes the players’ experience, transfer fee investments to assemble squads, as well as each team’s performance in the last 365 days.

With respect to 2020/21, the only change from a champions perspective is supposed to take place in Spain, with Real Madrid finishing ahead of Atlético and Barcelona. In England, the top four would be the same as last season, with Tottenham fifth ahead of Everton. Norwich City, Watford and Newcastle United are the main candidates for relegation.

In Italy, Inter Milan would outrank Napoli and city rivals Milan AC, with Juventus only sixth. Wolfsburg are the most likely runners-up in the German Bundesliga, ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen. In France, after Paris St-Germain, we would find the two Olympique (Marseille and Lyon in this order), while St-Etienne is a serious candidate for relegation.

Issue number 347 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 36 domestic leagues worldwide – 32 in Europe and 4 in the Americas – according to the number of passes made per match during current season as per data provided by our partners InStat. Paris St-Germain tops the rankings with an average of 738 passes.

In terms of the percentage of passes made in the opposite half, the Ukrainians of Shakhtar Donetsk are clearly at the top with an astonishing 68%, ahead of Manchester City (60%) and Ajax (57%). At the bottom of the rankings are Cosenza (22%) and two big-5 league teams: Norwich City and Elche (both 25%). As for the rate of accurate passes, the values vary between 92.6% for Paris St-Germain and Lazio, down to just 66.1% for Salernitana.

Regarding the four non-European leagues included in the sample, the highest figure for passes was measured for Flamengo (606, 87.7% of which accurate), while the lowest was observed for the Mexican side Atlético San Luis (336, 76.8%). Flamengo tops the table also for the proportion of passes in the opposite half alongside the Colombians of Deportes Quindío (50.3%). Another Brazilian team, Grêmio, complete the podium.