During the last ten transfer windows, Manchester City total the most negative net transfer spending among current big-5 league clubs (-€631M) ahead of city rivals Manchester United (-€586M). Two French Ligue 1 clubs are at the opposite end of the table: LOSC Lille (+€191M) and Olympique Lyonnais (+151M). Issue number 324 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the data for each club.

The third most negative transfer balance since the summer 2015 was recorded for FC Barcelona (-€471M). Beyond the much-debated Lionel Messi’s great salary, this heavily contributed to increase the Catalan club’s debt. Two other teams with recurrent operating deficits, Inter and Milan AC, also are among the ten big-5 league clubs with the most negative net transfer spending during the period analysed: -€386M for Inter and -€211M for Milan.

No English Premier League team has a positive transfer balance during the period considered. The least negative net spending was recorded for Southampton (-€50M), ahead of West Bromwich Albion (-€73M) and Newcastle United (-€77M). The most positive balances in Italy, Germany and Spain were recorded for Atalanta BC (+€133M), Hoffenheim (+€87M) and Valencia (+€67 M). The data comes from the CIES Observatory own research using data published by clubs or reported by media.

Issue number 323 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 31 European leagues according to the number of shots per goal as per the data provided by InStat. The most clinical team overall is Hamburger SV (one goal every 4.7 shots), followed by Olympiacos and Bayern Munich. At the opposite end, the highest figure was recorded for Belenenses (one goal every 20.5 shots).

At the level of the five major European championships, the most clinical teams after Bayern so far this season are Spanish leaders Atlético Madrid (one goal every 5.4 shots) and Union Berlin (5.7). Inter Milan (6.0) is the most clinical team in the Italian Serie A, Leicester City in the English Premier League (6.0) and AS Monaco in the French Ligue 1 (6.2).

The study also presents the percentage of shots taken from the opponent box and the average distance of shots. For the former indicator, the proportions vary between from 70% for Dinamo Kyiv to only 41% for the Croatian side HNK Šibenik. For the average shot distance, the figures range from 14.2 meters for Viktoria Plze? to 22.0 meters for the Serbs of FK Rad. For more team statistics, please access the exclusive CIES Football Observatory Performance Atlas.

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.