The U20 footballer who played the most league minutes so far is Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), followed by Saúl Ñíguez (Rayo Vallecano) and Luke Shaw (Southampton). Four other U20 footballers played for more than 2,000 minutes: Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Issiaga Sylla (Toulouse), Morgan Sanson (Montpellier) and Hakan Çalhano?lu (Hamburg).

The most fielded U20 player in Italy is Ibrahima Mbaye (Livorno). The tenth most employed U20 player was only fielded for 270 minutes in Italy. This figure is 1,115 in Germany, 1,028 in France, 790 in England and 437 in Spain.

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In England, the highest increase in shots on target per match after 1st of January was observed at Cardiff City, from 2.9 to 3.9 (+34%). Conversely, the greatest decrease was registered for Everton, from 5.8 to 4.7 (-19%). Shooting production went up at Liverpool and Chelsea, while it decreased at Manchester City and Arsenal.

In Spain, shooting production increased the most at Málaga (3.8 to 4.3, +13%). Despite the excellent results achieved, Atlético Madrid took much fewer shots on target after 1st of January than in the first part of the season (6.5 to 4.1, -37%). If this trend continues, the Colchoneros will most probably struggle to win the league title.

In France, the highest negative gap for shots on target was measured at Nice (3.6 to 2.4, -33%). The reverse holds true for Montpellier (3.3 to 4.9, +48%). Paris St-Germain shooting production remained stable: 6.0 shots on target per match (highest figure in France for both first and second semester).

In Germany, the shooting production of Hertha Berlin decreased by 26% (4.7 to 3.5). At the opposite end of the table is Hoffenheim (5.0 to 7.1, + 42%). The number of shots on target per match also increased for Bayern Munich (7.5 to 7.9, +5%).

In Italy, shooting production of the probable future league winner Juventus went heavily down after 1st of January (7.1 to 4.6, -35%). On the contrary, Genoa players took significantly more shots on target in the second part of the season than in the first one: 2.9 to 4.5 (+55%).

At big-5 league level, the ten most productive clubs in terms of shots on target in the second part of the season are Bayern Munich (7.9), Real Madrid (7.7), Hoffenheim (7.1), Liverpool (7.1), Barcelona (6.8), Borussia Dortmund (6.2), Schalke 04 (6.1), Paris St-Germain (6.0), Manchester City (5.9) and Chelsea (5.9). Six of these teams qualified for the quarter of finals of the Champions League and three will play the semi-finals.

More data are to be found on our website. For more information, please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch.

During current season, the three top ranked teams per league achieved 75% of possible points. This figure is 5% greater than the previous highest levels measured in 2011/12 and 2012/13. A new record high was measured in Spain (80.9%), Italy (77.8%), Germany (73.2%) and France (71.2%). In England, the current level (74.2%) is “only” the second highest since 2008/09. Our analysis clearly confirms the growing competitive unbalance in the richest European leagues.

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In the English Premier League, at the top of the rankings are two Liverpool (Suárez, Coutinho) and three Swansea players (Britton, Chico, Rangel). This finding suggests that the Welsh club should be able to further improve its results until the end of the season.

In Spain, Barcelona beats Real Madrid 3-2: Xavi, Alves and Mascherano versus Ronaldo and Di Maria. Only three footballers in the top 3 of their respective position do not play for the three best ranked teams: Rakiti? (Sevilla), Angulo (Granada) and Galvez (Rayo Vallecano).

In France, PSG players head three rankings out of five: Ibrahimovi?, Thiago Motta and Thiago Silva. Two very promising footballers top the table for offensive midfielders (Benjamin André) and full backs (Serge Aurier). Both have the ability to play in more competitive teams or leagues.

In Germany, Bayern Munich players are ranked first in four tables out of five: Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Rafinha and J. Boateng. However, the best performing forward was Anthony Modeste, who also scored against the Bavarian side during last week-end.

In the Italian Serie A, at the top of the rankings for forwards is the best scorer of Torino Ciro Immobile. Another Torino player, Giuseppe Vives, tops the table for central and defensive midfielders. Barrientos (Catania), Jonathan (Inter) and Paletta (Parma) head the remaining tables.

Our metrics measure players’ pitch production and efficiency in six complementary areas of the game.

CIES Football Observatory key performance indicators

Shooting: ability to take advantage of goal opportunities through accurate shooting

Chance creation: ability to create goal opportunities through efficient passing

Take on: ability to create dangerous situations by successfully challenging opponents

Distribution: ability to hold the grip on the game through efficient passing

Recovery: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through proficient ball recovery

Rigour: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents by efficiently blocking their actions

Data in each area are weighted according to the impact on club results per position. Consequently, for example, rigour is more important for centre backs than forwards, while the opposite holds true for shooting.

This fidning demonstrates the existence of a strong big-5 league club internal market. It also shows that the redistribution effect of the transfer system throughout the entire football pyramid is limited.

The club which generated the most income from the transfer of squad members to big-5 league clubs was Tottenham Hotspur (322 million €), closely followed by Spanish giant Real Madrid (304 million). Only five non big-5 league teams are among the 30 clubs that generated the most transfer incomes since 2008/09: Porto (3rd), Palermo (12th), Benfica (16th), Ajax (26th) and Portsmouth (28th). Conversely, many rich teams are ranked in the top 20 positions of the table: Liverpool (4th), Milan (5th), Inter Milan (6th), Arsenal (8th), Roma (9th), Barcelona (15th), Manchester United (17th), Chelsea (19th) and Manchester City (20th).

While the majority of the above-mentioned clubs also spent significant fees to sign new players, our findings show that the current transfer system cannot counter the growing competitive imbalance between clubs at different levels of the league structure. It also suggests that teams with a track record of training new players are not sufficiently rewarded financially as the most lucrative transfers mainly occur between the wealthiest clubs.

Moreover, the growing number of transfers highlighted in the CIES Football Observatory Demographic Study 2014 shows that the current transfer system does not efficiently prevent contract instability. On the contrary, players’ mobility is on the increase. This goes hand in hand with the expansion of third-party ownership deals, through which private investors are entitled to shares on future transfer fees. This further undermines the redistribution role of the transfer system throughout the football pyramid.

Our analysis highlights that reform of the current transfer system is needed. An efficient solution would be to redistribute any transfer income to all clubs where a footballer has played during his career according to the total number of matches played for each club. This would ensure a fairer distribution of money to the whole chain of clubs that allowed the player to develop his career before attracting interest from the richest teams. The CIES Football Observatory academic team is at your disposal to undertake simulations for different redistribution scenarios. For more information, please contact us at football.observatory@cies.ch.

The employer club whose footballers played the most minutes of World Cup qualification matches is Real Madrid, followed by six other big-5 league clubs: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. The highest ranked club not participating in the big-5 leagues is Zenit St-Petersburg (8th), while the first non-European team is Esteghlal FC of Iran, in 14th place.

Big-5 league teams represent two thirds of the 30 top ranked clubs. In total, 48.9% of minutes played were by footballers under contract with top division teams in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. This finding reflects the high concentration of national A-team players in the most competitive European championships.

All national teams qualified fielded players employed by big-5 league clubs. However, the percentage of minutes played by big-5 league footballers was below 25% for Australia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Iran, South Korea and Russia. These nations will most probably struggle to qualify for the knockout stages.

We hope that you will enjoy the new statistics presented in our 2014 World Cup Preview and we stay at your disposal for more analysis at football.observatory@cies.ch.