Issue number 95 of the CIES Football Observatory’s Monthly Report presents the migration trends observed over the last five years in 135 men’s leagues spread across 88 national associations around the world. A new record in the presence of expatriate footballers was recorded in 2024. Since 2020, their number has risen by almost 20%.

The import of players from abroad is a phenomenon that now concerns a greater number of clubs and leagues around the world. Player mobility is increasingly taking place through transnational transfer networks, not just for the most talented footballers, but also for players at lower levels of professional football.

In particular, we are seeing an increase in the migration of players from more competitive associations to less developed footballing countries: the French to Luxembourg and Switzerland, the Argentines to Peru and Chile, the Brazilians to South Korea and the United States, the Croats to Bosnia, the English to Scotland, the Germans to Austria, and so on.

Three countries stand out as the main exporters of players: Brazil, France and Argentina. While Brazilians remain the most represented abroad, over the last five years their numbers have grown much less (+86 expatriates) than those of the last two world champions: France (+273) and Argentina (+220).

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The 463rd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks attacking players (wingers and centre forwards) in 30 leagues around the world according to the amount of defensive work performed. The latter was measured using an index* taking into account two variables: the distance covered at high speed (>25 km/h) in the defensive phase (SkillCorner data) and the number of pressures exerted on opponents without physical or ball contact (Wyscout data).

The highest score overall was recorded for the South Korean striker Heung-Min Son, with a particularly strong value in terms of distance covered at high speed out of possession. At Europe’s big-5 league level, Son is ahead of another Tottenham player, the Brazilian Richarlison, which reflects the strong commitment in the defensive phase that Spurs’ coach Ange Postecoglou demands from strikers, and perhaps explains the recent dip in performance.

Germany’s Johannes Eggestein of second-ranked Zweite Bundesliga’s St. Pauli tops the list in the second divisions of big-5 league countries, Costa Rican Manfred Ugalde (Twente, transferred to Spartak Moscow in January) in the non-big-5 European leagues, with the highest value overall in terms of pressures exerted on opponents, as well as Mexico’s Ricardo Marín (Chivas Guadalajara) in the non-European leagues analysed.

*The index was calculated on a 100 basis from the average of the values recorded for the two variables taken into account, themselves projected on a 100 basis. Only footballers who played at least 1,200 domestic league minutes during the current season were included in the rankings.

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Issue 462 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the territorial anchorage of almost 1,000 teams in 58 leagues around the world from the point of view of the proportion of national players and club-trained footballers among those fielded in the domestic league over the last year*. The territorial anchorage index reflects the gap from the general average for these two variables, with a maximum score for Athletic Club (100% of nationals and 62% of ‘trained’).

The Basques outrank Colombia’s Envigado and four other Latin American teams: Mexico’s Chivas Guadalajara, Argentina’s Gimnasia La Plata, Venezuela’s Caracas and Uruguay’s Defensor. Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv are the only other European team in the top 10, along with another Argentinian club (Club Estudiantes), another Colombian team (Millonarios) and Egypt’s ENPPI.

The teams with the deepest territorial anchorage from the standpoint of the profile of players fielded for the other major leagues are Newcastle United in the Premier League (with Wolverhampton at the other end), Empoli in Serie A (Udinese at the bottom), Heidenheim in the Bundesliga (RB Leipzig last), Le Havre in Ligue 1 (Olympique Marseille at the other extreme), as well as Vitória SC in the Primeira Liga and Fluminense in the Brasileirão.

*National players are defined as those who have grown up in the association of their home club, while club-trained footballers are those who have played for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21 in their club of employment (non-nationals excluded). The data refer to the last year or, for a few minor leagues and newly-promoted clubs, to the current season.

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The 461st CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players in the world who have not yet celebrated their 20th birthday having accumulated the most playing experience* during the last year. The highest ’experience capital’ score was recorded for Benfica’s midfielder João Neves. The Portuguese international has played no less than 4,905 official game minutes, of which 97% as a starter, at an excellent level over the last 365 days.

João Neves is ahead of another international midfielder, Frenchman Warren Zaïre-Emery (Paris St-Germain), with Manchester United’s Argentinian Alejandro Garnacho ranking third. Another French player, LOSC Lille’s Leny Yoro, is in the top five, behind the Spanish and FC Barcelona’s prodigy Lamine Yamal. Three other top-level talents from the Catalan club feature in the top 100: Pablo Gavi, Pau Cubarsí and Vitor Roque. Brighton & Hove is the only other team represented by four players.

Footballers from 32 leagues rank in the top 100, with a maximum of 10 for the English Premier League, followed by the Spanish Liga (9) and the Belgian Pro League (8). Five players who have yet to turn 18 figure in the table: Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, Independiente del Valle’s Kendry Páez (already signed by Chelsea), Palmeiras Endrick Felipe (already signed by Real Madrid) and Newcastle United’s Lewis Miley.

* The playing experience over the last year has been calculated on a 100 basis by weighting the minutes played in official club (senior only) or national team matches (A and U21) according to their sporting level using the method described in this note.

>>> Top 100

Issue number 460 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks 30 leagues around the world according to a ’fast runs’ index based on three physical variables produced exclusively by SkillCorner: sprints, speed and accelerations*. Taking the average value of the scores measured for each team projected on a 100 basis, the English Premier League and Championship top the rankings.

Italy’s Serie A completes the podium just ahead of the Dutch Eredivisie, with the Swiss Super League in fifth place. The Brasileirão is the only non-European league of the seven analysed in the top 10 (ninth) with a value very close to those measured in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, the French Ligue 1 and the Spanish Liga. Mexico’s Liga MX, Italy’s Serie B and Argentina’s Primera División come bottom.

By club, the highest values were recorded for Chelsea, ahead of Tottenham and six other English clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester United and Championship’s Leicester City. The top ’fast runs’ indices for the other leagues in Europe’s big-5 were measured for Rayo Vallecano in the Liga, Bayern Munich (ahead of Bayer Leverkusen) in Bundesliga, RC Strasbourg (ahead of PSG) in Ligue 1, as well as Sassuolo in Serie A.

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* The variables taken into account are the frequency of high-speed runs (≥25 km/h for ≥0.7’’), the average maximum speeds reached by players and the frequency of their accelerations (>=10.8km/h/s for ≥0.7’’). The index is computed on a scale from 0 to 100 basis at team level from the standard score measured for each variable.

The CIES Football Observatory’s April report presents the exclusive approach developed on the basis of Wyscout data to identify the best performing outfield players in six areas of the game: ground defence, aerial play, distribution, take on, chance creation and finishing. The rankings refer to domestic league matches played during the last 365 days in 73 competitions worldwide.

The best index for ground defence was recorded for the Italian centre back Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), followed by Chelsea’s Spaniard Marc Cucurella. In terms of aerial play, at centre back level, the Dutchman Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) is ahead of Dan-Axel Zagadou (Stuttgart) from France. With regard to distribution, Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen) share the top spot.

Concerning take on, the Belgian Jérémy Doku (Manchester City) is ahead of the new Portuguese full international Francisco Conceição (Porto). In terms of chance creation, Ousmane Dembélé (Paris St-Germain) tops the table ahead of another world champion, Rodrigo de Paul (Atlético Madrid). Regarding finishing, the podium is made up of Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Deniz Undav (Stuttgart) and Kylian Mbappé (Paris St-Germain).

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