The fresh collaboration with the leading football data company InStat allows us to present exclusive analysis on the performance of clubs throughout Europe. The first CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post of this kind focuses on the percentage of ball possession since the start of the season for teams from 35 national competitions. The highest figure overall was recorded for Celtic Glasgow: 70.8%.

The Scottish team completed 659 passes per match compared to an average of 196 for their opponents. Celtic made 7.1 passes per possession phase, while their opponents only achieved three. The average duration of a possession was 23.5 seconds for Celtic and only 11.1 seconds for their opponents.

Big-5 league clubs are over-represented in the top positions of the rankings. This reflects the greater technical ability of their players, as well as the stronger importance given to possession in the playing philosophy of a higher proportion of teams. For more insights on data produced by InStat, please contact football.observatory@cies.ch.

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Issue number 195 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks top division clubs from 31 European associations according to the average age of line-ups fielded since the start of the current season. The lowest figure overall was recorded for the Ukrainian side Stal Kamianske (21.7 years), while the youngest team at big-5 league level so far is LOSC Lille (22.9 years).

In the top five positions of the rankings also are NAC Breda, Lokomotiva Zagreb, AS Tren?ín and FC Nordsjælland. Fifteen clubs from the five major European leagues are in the top 100: seven from Bundesliga (Leipzig, Leverkusen, Freiburg, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Köln), six from Ligue 1 (Lille, Rennes, Toulouse, Bordeaux, St-Etienne and Lyon), one from Italy (Milan) and one from Spain (Valencia).

The youngest English Premier League team, Newcastle United, is only ranked 113th out of the 466 clubs included in the analysis. The data for all of the teams is available in the freshly updated version of the exclusive CIES Football Observatory Digital Atlas. More than 50,000 internauts passionate about football have already visited this unique tool.

The CIES Football Observatory is proud to announce the launching of its latest innovation: a widget allowing anyone to follow the evolution of the transfer value of players from the big-5 leagues. Freely available to all, this new tool also allows users to compare transfer value trends between different footballers.

The widget is a new step in the popularisation of the research work carried out by the CIES Football Observatory. Transfer values are estimated according to an algorithm exclusively developed by the Observatory’s academic team. A research note on the methodology used is available here.

Through the widget, the goal is to increase the digital presence of the CIES Football Observatory. Within this context, collaborations with mainstream media are considered. In parallel, we spare no effort to enrich contents available on our website. Stay in touch!

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Manchester City invested a record value of €853 million in transfer fees to assemble its current squad. This value is €850 million for Paris St-Germain and €784 million for previous record holder Manchester United. The data for all big-5 league teams is available in issue number 194 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post.

Manchester City’s total transfer fee expenditure to make up its squad went up by €242m compared to September 2016. The increase was even stronger for Paris St-Germain: +€395m (including the €180m investment for Mbappé). The figure for Manchester United is “only” €66m higher than one year ago, while that of Champions League winners Real Madrid went down by €138m.

The six biggest English teams are in the top ten positions of the rankings. The aggregated values per league are €5.7bn for the Premier League (on average €287m per team, +28% compared to previous year), €2.4bn for the Serie A (€122m per team, +26%), €2.2bn for the Liga (€110m per team, +9%), as well as €1.9bn for the Bundesliga (€107m per team, +19%) and the Ligue 1 (€93m per team, +78%).

Issue number 193 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the financial assessments of paying fee transfers carried out by big-5 league clubs during the last summer window. In total, 40 big-5 league clubs out of 98 had a credit balance. The biggest net profit was recorded for Monaco: +€289 million. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Paris St-Germain: -€343 million.

Monaco received €394 million in transfer indemnities for squad members and reinvested €105 million in new signings. Among the ten clubs with the most positive balance are three teams from Italy (Sampdoria, Lazio and Fiorentina), two from England (Swansea and Arsenal), two from France (Monaco and Lyon), two from Germany (Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen), as well as one from Spain (Real Madrid).

Paris St-Germain invested €418 million (including add-ons) to recruit new players, while it only received €75 million in transfer fees for players under contract. Six out of the 10 teams with the most negative transfer balance are from the English Premier League (Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Brighton & Hove, Liverpool and Huddersfield). A deeper analysis on net monetary flows between leagues is available in the 27th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report.

The CIES Football Observatory took advantage of the summer break to strengthen its ability to deliver unique information to its growing audience. The first output is the brand new Monthly Report published today, which tracks the money invested in transfer indemnities by big-5 league clubs since 2010.

Transfer fees paid by big-5 league teams have strongly increased. For the fifth consecutive year, a record was set in 2017: €5.9 billion (+41% in comparison with the previous year). If we only take into account the summer transfers, the increase compared to 2016 was 38%: from €3.7 to €5.1 billion. These figures include conditional payments (add-ons), as well as sums for loans with an obligation to buy.

Over the summer of 2017, similar to preceding years, the Premier League clubs have spent the most: about €1.55 billion in fixed transfer fees and €220 million in conditional payments. On average, an English top division club invested €89 million to sign new players. In the other championships studied, this figure varies between €55 million (Serie A) and €34 million (Liga).

The spatial analysis of the sums invested by big-5 league teams during the summer of 2017 shows that most of the money remains within these championships: €3.7 billion (71% of the total). However, only 52% of paid transfers carried out by big-5 league clubs involved players under contract with teams from these competitions. This imbalance is due to the fact that the most expensive transfers occur between clubs in the big-5. The cases of Neymar, Mbappé and Dembélé are perfect examples of this situation.

Rather than call into question the usefulness of the transfer system, as argued by FIFPro notably, the CIES Football Observatory analysis makes a case for the reinforcement of redistribution mechanisms. An increase in indemnities paid to training clubs, as well as an augmentation and generalisation of solidarity contributions, such as those planned by FIFA for international transfers, would constitute concrete measures for improving the system.

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