With the start of a new and exciting season, the CIES Football Observatory is delighted to disclose some of the exclusive player physical data produced by our fresh partners SkillCorner. The French company has developed a unique and automated approach to track players from any football broadcast, whilst generating physical data and continuous XY tracking via specialised algorithms. With over 40 competitions covered worldwide, they position themselves as leaders in the market.

Issue number 343 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks 28 competitions according to the percentage of high intensity runs (>19.8 km/h) out of the total distance covered by players. The data refer to the last completed season. The English Premier League tops the table ahead of the Polish Ekstraklasa and the Spanish Liga. Conversely, the MLS, the Scottish Premiership and the Brazilian Serie A are at the bottom of the rankings.

At club level, Leeds United stands out with almost one tenth of the overall distance ran in high intensity. For the other four major European competitions, the greatest proportions were recorded for Athletic Club in Spain, Olympique Lyonnais in France, Juventus in Italy and Wolfsburg in Germany. With regard to overall distance covered, the leaders are Barcelona, Napoli, Leeds United (again), Hoffenheim and Angers.

The 66th CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report studies the changes occurred during the past five years in ten of the principal women’s leagues worldwide from the aspect of the players’ age, the percentage of expatriate footballers, as well as that of full international players. It notably shows the growing influence of the major European men’s clubs in the sphere of women’s football.

The fresh capital invested has notably stimulated the international mobility of women footballers. In the ten leagues studied, the percentage of expatriates has increased from 21.6% in 2017 to a record 33.0% in 2021. The increasing dominance of the traditionally men’s clubs in women’s football is clearly visible when looking at teams with the greatest number of full internationals. In the first 15 places are 14 teams whose male counterparts play in the five major European leagues.

The development of women’s football in Europe has encouraged more and more players from the best women’s football nation, the United States, to emigrate. In June 2021, with 87 citizens abroad in the championships studied, the United States were by far the most represented expatriate origin, ahead of Sweden (39 players) and Canada (37 players).

How much did players selected for the upcoming Euro 2021 play since the COVID break in 2020? Issue number 342 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks the footballers according to minutes played in official games for both clubs and national teams (A-teams and U21) since the 16th May 2020. With 6,472 minutes and 81 matches, Manchester United’s and Portugal Bruno Fernandes heads the table.

Manchester United’s and England centre back Harry Maguire ranks second (6’449 minutes, 72 official games) ahead of Milan AC’s and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (6’420 minutes, 71 matches). Four other goalkeepers are in the top 10 (Kasper Schmeichel, Hugo Lloris, Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois), alongside Rúben Dias (Manchester City and Portugal), Jules Koundé (Sevilla and France), as well as Andrew Robertson (Liverpool and Scotland).

Per national team, the three top values of minutes per player were recorded for England (4,442), Portugal (4,258) and Germany (4’214). At the opposite end, we find North Macedonia (2,595), Wales (2’704) and Slovakia (2,738). With only 209 minutes in official games since the COVID break, the 19-year-old Welshman Rubin Colwill from Cardiff City played the least minutes among all footballers selected for the Euro 2021.

Three English talents are at the top of the biannual ranking of the greatest estimated transfer values for big-5 league players. According to the CIES Football Observatory algorithm, €190 million should be proposed to eventually convince Manchester City releasing Phil Foden. Two Manchester United’s players complete the podium: Mason Greenwood (€178 M) and the former leader Marcus Rashford (€159 M). The top 100 is available in the 341st Weekly Post.

Erling Haaland has the top estimated transfer value for players outside of the English Premier League. With respect to fees paid in the past, an investment of €155 M would be necessary to sign the Norwegian striker. With only one year of contract remaining, Kylian Mbappé (€118 M) is only 12th. Only three of the 20 big-5 league footballers with an estimated transfer value of more than €100 M are over 25 years of age: Bruno Fernandes, Timo Werner and Bernardo Silva.

Ederson Moraes (€62M) has the greatest estimated value for goalkeepers. His teammate at Manchester City Ruben Días (€114 M) tops the table for centre backs. Alphonso Davies (€131 M) from Bayern Munich is at the top for full backs and no other defensive midfielder has an estimated value as high as Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong (€138 M). Transfer value intervals for all big-5 league footballers are available on the CIES Football Observatory website.

National teams with players active in the most competitive clubs have greater chances to win trophies. Issue number 340 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post compares selections qualified from the perspective of the average sporting level of the teams of employment of players in squads. France tops the table ahead of Germany and Spain.

The Post also presents the average number of domestic league minutes played since September 1st 2020 by footballers from the 24 teams qualified. The maximal value was recorded for players of the English team (2,496 minutes), while the lowest one was measured for Ukraine (on average only 1,390 domestic league minutes per player).

With an average age of 24.9 years on June 1st, Turkey is the youngest team. It outranks England (25.2 years) and Wales (25.5 years). At the opposite end we find Sweden (29.2 years), followed by Belgium (29.1 years) and Slovakia (28.2 years). Born on the 16th October 2003, the Polish Kacper Kozlowski is the youngest player, while the Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (22.09.1982) is the oldest.

With the five major European leagues ended, issue number 339 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the best line-ups for each championship. Players were selected according to the CIES performance index developed using data from OptaPro. Only footballers fielded for at least two thirds of domestic league minutes were included in the line-ups.

The formation selected for the English Premier League is a 4-2-1-3, with Bruno Fernandes as an attacking midfielder behind Harry Kane and besides Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount. The defense is made up of three Manchester City players (Ederson Moraes, Rubén Dias and João Cancelo), plus Victor Lindelöf and Andrew Robertson, with Rodri Hernández and Granit Xhaka as holding midfielders.

Some outstanding but not yet very known players are included in the line-ups for the remaining leagues. We notably find Ridle Baku (Wolfsburg) as right full-back in the German Bundesliga’s best 11, Aurélien Tchouaméni (Monaco), Farid Boulaya (Metz) and Romain Faivre (Stade Brestois) in the French Ligue 1 selection, Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo) in Italy and Javi Galan (Huesca) in Spain.