The ability to both create and convert big chances is a key success factor. However, issue number 187 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights that in four out of the five major European leagues, teams heading the table distinguished themselves from runner-up clubs above all for their ability to score with no clear-cut opportunity available.

Rome (26), Paris St-Germain (25), Tottenham (34) and RB Leipzig (25) scored significantly fewer goals from situations with no big chance available than Juventus (37), Monaco (36), Chelsea (41) and Bayern Munich (40). In no big-5 European league, the club having created the most clear-cut scoring opportunities tops the rankings: PSG, Barcelona, Rome, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City.

The key question is thus to know why some teams scored more goals with no big chance available. Luck certainly plays a role at this level. However, the greater desire to win should probably also be taken into account. In addition, while the best form of defence is attack, we should not forget the importance of defensive teamwork to win trophies.

Issue number 186 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the results of big-5 league teams according to their transfer expenditure to sign the players fielded over the 2016/17 season. A positive and significant correlation was measured between fees paid and points per match in all leagues surveyed. This confirms the strong link between money and success.

Three teams performed much better than the amounts invested on the transfer market would have suggested: West Bromwich Albion, Atalanta and Freiburg. The most positive gaps in the French Ligue 1 were recorded for Nantes and Nice. Eibar and Alavés are at the top of the table at Spanish Liga level.

The club having so far the most under-performed with regard to its expenditure in signing players fielded is Wolfsburg. Results obtained by Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg and Sunderland were also clearly disappointing. The same holds true for Bastia in France, as well as for Inter and Palermo in Italy.

Issue number 185 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 100 list of the best performing big-5 league players in the area of dribbling. Middlesbrough’s Adama Traoré outranks Eden Hazard (Chelsea) and Allan Saint-Maximin (Bastia). Neymar, Lionel Messi and Alexis Sánchez also are in the top 10 positions of the rankings.

The dribbling index is calculated by dividing the number of dribbles attempted by the percentage of successful ones. This allows us taking into account dribbling skills from both a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. In quantitative terms, the big-5 league player who attempted the most dribbles so far is Barcelona’s Neymar (269), ahead of Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) and Felipe Anderson (Lazio).

The best ratio of successful dribbles among players in the top 100 list was recorded for OGC Nice’s midfielder Wylan Cyprien (87%). At second position is another French Ligue 1 player: Marco Verratti (Paris St-Germain). The best ratio for players who attempted more than 100 dribbles was observed for Eden Hazard: 75%.

Dear subscriber,

The CIES Football Observatory research team is happy to inform you that the Digital Atlas was updated. It now takes into account domestic league games played during the last six months. This exclusive tool allows you to compare the squad make-up of teams in 31 top division leagues of UEFA member associations.

In addition, the new top 100 lists of the teams having fielded club-trained players for the highest percentage of minutes, the most stable line-ups, as well as the youngest ones are now available. The rankings refer both to the 31 top division leagues of UEFA member associations and the five major European championships (Spanish Liga, English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1).

We hope that you will enjoy these tools. Any feedback is welcome. We also kindly invite you to follow us on Twitter. Thank you for your interest!

The CIES Football Observatory published today the 24th edition of its Monthly Report. The study focuses on the demographic evolution of the big-5 European leagues since the start of the 2009/10 season. It notably shows that the percentage of minutes played by club-trained footballers in the English Premier League reached a new record low during the current season (6.1%).

The Report also highlights the increase in the playing time of expatriate footballers at the level of the five major European championships. Between 2009 and 2017, the percentage of minutes played by expatriates went up from 44.4% to 48.2%. A new record high was measured in January 2017: 48.7%. If this trend continues, the symbolic 50% threshold will be reached soon.

Today, expatriates already play the majority of minutes in the English Premier League and the Italian Serie A. In the two cases, we are close to record values. The Serie A also differentiates itself from the other leagues with regard to the extent of the increase measured since the 2009/10 season. On the other hand, the German Bundesliga is the only championship where the current value is lower than that recorded at the beginning of the period investigated.

The employment level of young players also varies considerably according to league. During the period studied, the French Ligue 1 overtook the German Bundesliga to become the competition where teams have the most confidence in U21 players. At the other extreme, the English Premier League overtook the Italian Serie A as the league in which U21 footballers have the least amount of playing time.

During the last six months, the percentage of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers was 5.2% for the Premier League, 10.1% for the Serie A, 11.1% for the Liga, 13.3% for the Bundesliga and 15.7% for the Ligue 1. In England, the current value is very close to the record low measured in August 2013. In Italy, however, the record high measured in January 2017 could be beaten again by the end of the season.

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The CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post n° 184 presents the percentage of matches ended with a three-goal gap or over for 31 top division European leagues, as well as UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League. The analysis shows that the Champions League is among the most unbalanced competitions.

From the group stage up until now, the goal gap for more than a fifth of Champions League matches was at least three (21.0%). This is the third highest figure among competitions surveyed after those recorded in the Cypriot (22.5%) and Austrian (21.5%) top divisions. However, the value measured in the Europa League is particularly low (13.5%).

The big-5 leagues are also in the first half of the most unbalanced competitions. This finding reflects the increasing wealth gaps between participating teams. To re-balance competitions, the only solution would be to improve the distribution of financial (TV rights) and human (transfer market) resources at both national and international level.