The survey conducted by the CIES Football Observatory to celebrate its 15th birthday has allowed us to collect extremely interesting data on the perception of fans on professional football. A clear majority of the 2,061 respondents considers that the level of transparency around transfers is not sufficient. Football enthusiasts are also of the opinion that not enough teams are winning trophies. The full study is available in the 61st edition of the Monthly Report.

Almost nine participants out of ten also believe that football agents earn too much money. From this perspective, the cap on commissions decided by FIFA has the fans’ approval. More generally, any initiative aimed at rendering transfer operations less opaque would be very welcome. In this respect, the obligation to communicate the financial details of player transactions would be a very good step forward.

Almost four fans out of five think that the competitive balance in domestic leagues is not sufficient. However, only less than one third consider that the number of national championship matches is too high. From a political point of view, in particular in the European context with the supposed possible creation of a continental super league, this finding can be interpreted as a standing by football enthusiasts in favour of domestic leagues.

Among the various other interesting results, the vast majority of fans is also of the opinion that the costs involved in viewing matches, whether at the stadium or via television, are too high. From a fan retention perspective, this situation is problematic. It is a major challenge to the future popularity of football, especially concerning the new generations, who are already used to have free access to the e-sport spectacle.

To end on a positive note, almost seven out of ten participants in the questionnaire think that there is not too much match fixing, nor doping, in professional football. Regarding these two aspects, the confidence of the fans in the beautiful game remains intact. With respect to many other issues, however, many reforms should be carried out to maintain fan support, improving the image of the game and stimulating the positive effects of football on the society.

Empty stadiums impact teams very differently. Despite the lack of supporters due to the pandemic, Atlético Madrid recorded the highest proportion of home wins among teams in the five major European leagues: 13 out of 15 including yesterday night’s fixture against Valencia (86.7%). The data for teams in 66 top divisions worldwide are available in issue number 322 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post.

Two teams out of all those having played at least 10 domestic league matches at home since April 1st 2020 have won all these games: Norwegian champions Bodø/Glimt (15 out 15) and the Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers (12). Conversely, ten clubs did not win a single home fixture since the pandemic: Deportivo Municipal (PER), Vegalta Sendai (JPN), RoPS (FIN), Dalian Pro (CHN), Zob Ahan (IRN), FC Köln (GER), Dijon (FRA), Lyngby (DEN), Al-Yarmouk SC (KUW) and Al Ittihad (EGY).

At the level of these 66 leagues, the percentage of home wins has decreased from 45.1% between January 1st 2019 and March 31st 2020 to 42.0% between April 1st 2020 and January 18th 2021. Generally speaking, this finding shows that the lack of fans negatively impacted teams playing at home. Nevertheless, the latter still are at an advantage as they continue to win 1.32 more games than clubs visiting them.

Issue number 321 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 72 domestic leagues worldwide according to the percentage of minutes played by the 11 most fielded footballers. The highest figures for the five major European championships were measured for two English Premier League teams who performed beyond expectations since the start of the season: Aston Villa (87%) and Southampton (85%).

At the opposite end, Paris St-Germain stand out with only 58% of minutes by the 11 most fielded footballers, the lowest figure in the big-5. Per league, the highest and lowest values were observed for Aston Villa (87%) and Newcastle (68%) in the Premier League, Elche (81%) and Real Valladolid (62%) in the Liga, Cagliari (79%) and Genoa (59%) in the Serie A, Freiburg (82%) and Schalke 04 (61%) in the Bundesliga, as well as Olympique de Marseille (78%) and Paris St-Germain (58%) in the Ligue 1.

For the remaining big teams still competing in the Champions League, the 11 most used footballers were fielded for 78% at Liverpool, 75% at Real Madrid, 73% at both Manchester City and Bayern Munich, 71% at Barcelona and 68% at Juventus. Interestingly, despite the depth of squads and the tight match schedule, the English Premier League is the 14th competition among the 72 studied whose clubs carry out the lowest player turnover, well ahead of the four other leagues of the big-5.

Issue number 320 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from the five major European leagues according to the frequency of dribbles attempted by their players. Paris St-Germain tops the table with a dribble attempted every 3’58’’, while Burnley FC is at the bottom of the rankings with a dribble attempt every 8’46’’.

Many teams with very talented players figure in the top 10 positions, such as Olympique Lyonnais (2nd), Barcelona (4th), Manchester City (6th) and Borussia Dortmund (9th). Fulham is the most dribble-oriented team in the English Premier League (3rd overall), while Cagliari (15th) top the rankings for the Italian Serie A.

The least dribble-oriented teams for each of the big-5 leagues are Burnley FC in the Premier League, Osasuna in the Liga, Union Berlin in Germany, Benevento in Italy and RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1. The frequency of dribble attempts per league vary between 2’33’’ in the French Ligue 1 and 2’59’’ in the Spanish Liga. The success rate at club level ranges between 70.6% for Wolfsburg (just ahead Aston Villa, 69.4%) and 48.4% for Werder Bremen.

Issue number 319 of the Weekly Post presents the traditional biannual list of the big-5 league players with the greatest transfer values according to the exclusive CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The top estimated value was calculated for the 23-year-old Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford: €165 M. With only 18 months of contract remaining, the former leader Kylian Mbappé falls back to fifth place.

The 20-year-old Norwegian prolific striker Erling Haaland ranks second with an estimated transfer value of €152M. The 22-year-old English full international Trent Alexander-Arnold completes the podium. The Liverpool’s full back is the most expensive defender ahead of Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies (€139M) and Manchester City’s Rúben Dias (€127M). The top estimated values for midfielders and goalkeepers were recorded for Bruno Fernandes (€151 M) and Ederson Moraes (€80M).

With only six months of contract remaining, Lionel Messi just makes the top 100 list: 97th with an estimated value of €54M. Despite his excellent performances, 35-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo (€47M) is only 131st. This is mainly due to his age and the relatively short duration of his contract with Juventus (until June 2022). The transfer value intervals for all big-5 league players are available for free on the CIES Football Observatory website.

Dear football/soccer enthusiast,

the CIES Football Observatory wishes you a happy end of the year 2020 and an excellent 2021, hopefully with the possibility of attending more matches in the stadiums.

We also kindly invite you to take about 5 minutes of your time to answer this anonymous questionnaire about the fans’ opinion on professional football. Warmest thanks to all those who already answered. Your answers will be analysed and made available in the January’s 2021 Monthly Report.

Sincerely yours

On behalf of the CIES Football Observatory, its head

Dr. Raffaele Poli

No professional footballer has played as many minutes in official matches in the calendar year 2020 as Manchester United’s centre back Harry Maguire. Up until December 17th, the English international was fielded during 4’745 minutes (53 matches). The top 100s for both goalkeepers and outfield players are available in issue number 318 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post.

For outfield players, Maguire ranks ahead of Manchester City’s Rúben Dias and the Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. Other well-known footballers are high in the rankings such as Bruno Fernandes, Romelu Lukaku and Raphaël Varane. If we consider the number of matches played, the Danish full international Christian Eriksen tops the table with 54 games. However, in terms of minutes, the Inter player is not even in the first 1,000 ranks. On average, he played just over a half time per match.

With regard to goalkeepers, at the head of the table is Marcelo Lomba from SC Internacional: 4’740 minutes in 52 official matches. The Brazilians are over-represented in the top positions of the rankings. Four goalkeepers playing for European clubs are in the top 10: Lukáš Hrádecký (Bayer Leverkusen and Finnish national team), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan AC and Italy), Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid and Slovenia), as well as Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany).

Data is more than ever a must when it comes to scouting. The CIES Football Observatory has developed a unique methodology to assess the performance of players on an objective basis. Using the data from InStat, issue number 317 of the Weekly Post presents the 10 best performing footballers born in the 2000s for each of the six areas of the game covered in our approach. Only players fielded for at least 450 domestic league minutes up until December 7th are included in the rankings.

Nathan Collins (Stoke City) stands out when it comes to rigour (duels). He should soon receive his first call for the Irish senior national team. At the top for recovery, Mohamed Camara (RB Salzburg) is following on the footsteps of other top footballers trained in the academies ran according to the precepts of the French maestro Jean-Marc Guillou. Born in 2002, Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax) heads the distribution table, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Rubin Kazan) has the top score for take on.

Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Salzburg) and the 2002-born striker Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven) are at the top for chance creation and, respectively, shooting. The 60th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report details the basic principles of the statistical approach developed and presents the top 10 overall rankings in the different areas of the game taken into account for each of the 35 leagues examined.

Dear football/soccer enthusiast,

the CIES Football Observatory academic team kindly invites you to take a little time to answer this anonymous questionnaire about the fans’ opinion on professional football.

Your answers will be analysed and made available in the January’s 2021 Monthly Report. Through your participation, you help us making known the fans’ point of view.

Click here to answer

Many thanks!

Issue number 316 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post compares clubs from 31 top divisions of UEFA member associations according to the average age at which they recruited their current players (not including footballers from the youth academy). CSKA Moscow made the earliest recruitment (21.1 years), ahead of FC DAC 1904 (21.7) and SC Heerenveen (22.1).

Real Madrid is the big-5 league club most focused on signing young talents. Their current squad members were on average recruited at the age of 22.2 years. This value is particularly low also for RB Leipzig (22.3) and OGC Nice (22.5). European champions Bayern Munich are in the 30th position of teams having signed the youngest footballers (23.4). Tottenham Hotspur (23.9) and AC Milan (24.3) top the rankings in Italy and England.

At the opposite end of the table is Gençlerbirli?i SK with an average age of recruitment of 29.0 years, followed by Anorthosis FC and BB Erzurumspor. At the level of the big-5 leagues, the teams least focused on the signing of young players are Benevento in the Serie A (28.1 years), Elche CF in the Liga (27.8), West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League (26.5), Montpellier HSC in the Ligue 1 (26.1) and Union Berlin in the Bundesliga (26.0).

Issue number 315 of the Weekly Post highlights the big-5 league players whose transfer value has increased the most in November according to the CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland tops the table for footballers with a transfer valuation of more than €80M: €155M compared to €120M at the end of October (+€35M).

If the reported €75M release clause valid from 2022 really exists, Borussia Dortmund will be certainly tempted to transfer him at a much higher price at the end of the current season. If Erling Haaland continues to score so many goals and perform at such a great level, once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, he could break the €222M transfer fee record currently held by Neymar.

The top increases in November for the other price ranges considered were measured for Giovanni Reyna (+€34M) for players with an estimated value between €40 and €80M, Florian Wirtz (+€16M) for the €20 to €40M category, Nicólas González (+€7M) for footballers valued between €10M and €20 M and Yunus Musah (+€4.5M) for players whose current transfer value is still below €10M. The updated estimated value ranges for all big-5 league players is available here.

Issue number 314 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the ten most represented foreign origins in 126 professional leagues worldwide. The Brazilians represent the biggest contingent of expatriates in 23 championships, followed by the Argentineans (15) and the French (13). The Atlas of migration displays more exclusive data on international transfer networks.

Players who grew up in France notably are the main expatriate workforce in the English Premier League (47 players), the German Bundesliga (36), the Italian Serie A (35) and the Spanish Liga (30). The French represent the most represented foreign origin in eight other associations: Belgium (both 1st and 2nd division), Bulgaria, Turkey, Switzerland, Romania, Qatar, Algeria and Luxembourg.

The most frequented migration route connects Brazil to Portugal: 141 Brazilians play in the top Portuguese division and 106 in the second one. The three other major migratory channels connect neighbouring leagues, with the bigger nation providing workforce to the smaller: from England to the top Welsh division (100 players), from France to Luxembourg (93), as well as from England to the Scottish Premiership (90).

Issue number 313 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players from the 10 best European leagues who won the highest percentage of aerial defensive duels since the start of the season. Chelsea’s centre-back Kurt Zouma tops the table with 26 aerial duels won out of 27 (96.3%). Berat Djimsiti (Atalanta) and Harry Maguire (Manchester United) complete the podium.

Often criticised by his own supporters, the English international Harry Maguire lost only three defensive aerial duels out of 30. With 90% of defensive aerial duels won, he has the second best ratio in the Premier League ahead of Yerry Mina (Everton), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Jonny Evans (Leicester City) and Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa).

The five youngest footballers in the top 100 are all born in the year 2000: Loïc Badé (RC Lens), Matteo Lovato (Hellas Verona), Arthur Theate (Ostende), Sven Botman (LOSC Lille) and Tommy St. Jago (Utrecht). Only players having won at least 20 defensive aerial duels were included in the rankings elaborated using the data of our partners InStat.

The 59th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report presents the findings of the annual census on the demographic characteristics of players from 31 European male top divisions. For 2020, the sample is composed of 12,088 footballers. The study reveals that the pandemic slowed the transfer market and strengthened the gaps in the profile of players according to the sporting and economic level of clubs.

After the COVID-19, the part of debutant players in squads has increased by 1.3% compared to the average for the 2009-2019 period. The growth has been greater in the least competitive leagues (+1.9%) than in the five major European championships (+0.2%). Following the pandemic, teams from the least successful leagues have given a first chance to three times more debutant players than clubs from the best championships, compared to only twice more during the previous decade.

After having fallen progressively between 2009 and 2018, the percentage of club-trained players has increased for the second year running (17.8%). This increase is exclusively related to the greater recourse to footballers from their youth academy by clubs in the least performing leagues (+2.3%). Indeed, within the three top championship groups, the percentage of club-trained footballers has actually diminished (between -0.2% and -0.7%).

The pandemic has also slowed the mobility of players. Squad stabilisation has occurred in all league categories. In 2020, the percentage of footballers recruited during the year has dropped by 2.5% in comparison to 2019. The part of new recruits has fallen to a level not seen since 2012 (40.7%). Confronted with significant revenue shortfalls, most clubs have reduced their activity on the transfer market.

COVID-19 has also reversed the trend when it comes to the international mobility of players. While the percentage of expatriates has grown steadily between 2009 and 2019, it has gone down after the pandemic (41.2%, -0.6%). In this case too, the biggest decrease was recorded for the minor championships (-2.4%), while a slight increase has been observed in the big-5 European leagues (+0.2%).

These findings show that the pandemic has exacerbated the inequalities between clubs throughout Europe. Smaller teams had to lower their ambitions even more than bigger ones. For many of the former, the immediate future presents itself more than ever as a fight for survival. In this extremely tense context, the clubs having built up solid training sectors will pull through better than the others. This holds true from both a sporting and a financial perspective.

Click here to access the study by interactively selecting the leagues for which you wish to follow the evolutions on the different indicators analysed.

Issue number 312 of the Weekly Post presents the exclusive CIES Football Observatory annual rankings of the clubs having trained the most players active in 31 top divisions of UEFA member associations. With 85 footballers trained, the Serbian side FK Partizan tops the table ahead of AFC Ajax (77) and Dinamo Zagreb (71). With respect to big-5 league players, the podium consists of Real Madrid (43), Barcelona (32) and Lyon (31).

In accordance with the UEFA definition, training clubs are those where players have been for at least three seasons between 15 and 21 years of age. For the first time, for each footballer, we also considered the number of domestic league matches played over the last year, the sporting level of clubs where they played them, as well as their age. This allowed us to calculate a weighted score reflecting the training work carried out by clubs also from a qualitative and temporal perspective.

Benfica, Ajax and Barcelona recorded the top weighted scores for the training of players in the 31 European top divisions, while Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris St-Germain are at the top of the weighted rankings with regard to footballers currently active in the five major European championships.

Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) heads the exclusive CIES Football Observatory list of the highest estimated transfer values for big-5 league players born in the 2000s: €180 M. The Champions League winner outranks Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund, €125 M) and Ansu Fati (Barcelona, €123 M). The top 100 is available in issue number 311 of the Weekly Post.

According to the CIES Football Observatory algorithm, among the 12 big-5 league footballers born in the 2000s with an estimated value greater than €50M are four Englishmen (Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden), two Spaniards (Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres), two Brazilians (Rodrygo Goes, Vinícius Júnior), a Canadian (Alphonso Davies), a Norwegian (Erling Haland), a Swede (Dejan Kulusevski) and a Frenchman (Eduardo Camavinga).

Two players born in 2003 figure in the top 100 list: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund, €44M) and Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen, €16M). Bellingham heads the rankings for footballers who did not yet play for a national A-team, ahead of Benoît Badiashile (Monaco, €40 M). The latter outranks Ozan Kabak (Schalke 04, €35 M) and Wesley Fofana (Leicester City, €33M) in the table for centre backs.

Issue number 310 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 67 top divisions worldwide according to the average age of line-ups fielded in the current season. The lowest figure among teams from countries in the top 20 positions of the UEFA club association ranking was measured for the Danish side Nordsjælland (22.7 years), ahead of Famalicão and Den Haag.

Despite the everlasting Zlatan Ibrahimovi?, Milan AC is the youngest team at the level of the five major European leagues (24.5 years). The Italian club outranks three French (Monaco, Reims and St-Étienne) and two German (Stuttgart, Leipzig) sides. Valencia is the youngest team in the Spanish Liga, while Brighton & Hove tops the table for the English Premier League.

Overall, FK Metta (Latvia) fielded the youngest line-ups (20.6 years on average), ahead of MŠK Žilina (Slovakia) and Grótta (Iceland). FC Nasaf (Uzbekistan) is the youngest team from a non-UEFA association (23.9 years). At the opposite end are Mushuc Runa (Ecuador, 31.6 years), Guaireña (Paraguay) and Anorthosis (Cyprus).

Issue number 309 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents players having committed and suffered the most fouls per minute in 33 European championships according to the data provided by our partners InStat. With one foul suffered every 20’39”, Neymar (PSG) heads the rankings for big-5 league footballers.

Yangel Herrera (Granada), Michail Antonio (West Ham), Rodrigo de Paul (Udinese) and Mark Uth (Schalke 04) top the tables for fouls suffered in the four other major European leagues. With regard to fouls committed, Fabien Lemoine (Lorient), Javi Galán (Huesca), Steven Alzate (Brighton & Hove), Nicolas Höfler (Freiburg) and Juraj Kucka (Parma) head the big-5 league rankings.

The 24-year-old English winger Jerell Sellars (Östersunds) leads the table for fouls suffered at the level of the 33 leagues overall, ahead of Diego Fabbrini (Dinamo Bucure?ti) and Jorge Díaz (Panetolikós). Conversely, the three players having so far committed the most fouls per minute are Kirill Vergeichik (Vitebsk), Mohamed El Makrini (Start) and Aleksandr Kokko (RoPS).