The CIES Football Observatory is pleased to inform you that a new edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post is available to download for free on our website. The latest issue considers the subject of expatriate footballers under 21 years of age.

Leagues with the most / least percentage of minutes played by U21 expatriate players (last week-end)

Italian Serie A 6.9 / Spanish Liga 0.9

Clubs with the most percentage of minutes played by U21 expatriate players (last week-end

1. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (GER) 25.3 - 2. Sampdoria UC (ITA) 21.8 - 3. Bologna FC (ITA), Internazionale Milano FC (ITA), Hamburger SV (GER) 18.2

We are also pleased to present you the most productive players for each of the big-5 European leagues in last week-end matches.

Most productive players, general index (last week-end)

ENG: D. Sturridge (Liverpool)/ ESP: G. Castro (Real Sociedad) / FRA: S. Kalou (Lille) / GER: Diego (Wolfsburg) / ITA: P. Osvaldo (AS Roma)

The most productive players per area of the game also available on our website. Enjoy the read!

The CIES Football Observatory is pleased to inform you that a new edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post is available to download for free on our website. The latest issue considers the subject of national footballers under 21 years of age.

Leagues with the most / least percentage of minutes played by U21 national players (last week-end)

German Bundeliga 10.7 / English Premier League 0.7

Clubs with the most percentage of minutes played by U21 national players (last week-end

1. FC Schalke 04 (GER) 27.3 - 2. FSV Mainz 05 (GER) 25.3 - 3. SpVgg Greuther Fürth (GER) 24

We are also pleased to present you the most productive players for each of the big-5 European leagues in last week-end matches.

Most productive players, general index (last week-end)

ENG: L. Suárez (Liverpool)/ ESP: C. Ronaldo (Real Madrid) / FRA: T. Mangani (Nancy) / GER: C. Pizarro (Bayern) / ITA: D. De Rossi (AS Roma)

The most productive players per area of the game also available on our website. Enjoy the read!

The CIES Football Observatory is pleased to inform you that a new edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post is available to download for free on our website. The latest issue considers the subject of footballers over 30 years of age.

Leagues with the most / least percentage of players over 30 on the pitch (last week-end)

Italian Serie A 32.2 / German Bundeliga 18.4

Clubs with the most / least percentage of players over 30 on the pitch (last week-end

Atalanta Bergamo (ITA) 57,8 / Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP), Aston Villa FC (ENG), SV Werder Bremen (GER) 0

We are also pleased to present you the most productive players for each of the big-5 European leagues in last week-end matches.

Most productive players, general index (last week-end)

ENG: C. N’Zogbia (Aston Villa)/ ESP: T. Alcântara (Barcelona) / FRA: Y. Jouffre (Lorient) / GER: J. Blaszczykowski (Dortmund) / ITA: L. Muriel (Udinese)

The most productive players per area of the game also available on our website. Enjoy the read!

The CIES Football Observatory is pleased to inform you that a new edition of the Big-5 Weekly Post is available to download for free on our website. The latest issue considers the subject of transfer fees spent for players fielded.

Leagues with the most / least total sum of transfer fees spent for players fielded during last week-end (by club)

English Premier League 90.8 M°€ / French Ligue 1 19.9 M°€

Clubs with the most / least total sum of transfer fees spent for players fielded during last week-end

Real Madrid (ESP) 410.3 M°€ / Ajaccio, Bastia (FRA), Levante, Rayo Vallecano (ESP) 0 M°€

We are also pleased to present you the most productive players for each of the big-5 European leagues in last week-end matches.

Most productive players, general index (last week-end)

ENG: J. Rodriguez (Southampton)/ ESP: F. Fàbregas (Barcelona) / FRA: S. Kalou (Lille) / GER: J. Draxler (Schalke 04) / ITA: A. Di Natale (Udinese)

The most productive players per area of the game also available on our website. Enjoy the read!

Dear Subscriber, the CIES Football Observatory is pleased to inform you that the latest issue of the Big-5 Weekly Post is now available to download for free on our website. This issue presents the most productive players in the big-5 leagues during March.

Thanks to the data provided by Opta Pro, our analysis concerns five key areas of the game: shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution, and recovery. The general index is the weighted sum of all these specific indicators. In March, the most productive players overall were:

• Wayne Rooney (Manchester United FC) in England
• Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) in Spain
• Yohan Mollo (AS St-Etienne) in France
• Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München) in Germany
• Rodrigo Palacio (Internazionale Milano FC) in Italy

Some players from middle or bottom ranked clubs also performed particularly well in specific areas of the game. For example, Antolín Alcáraz
(Wigan Athletic FC) was the most productive player in recovery for England and Roberto Trashorras (Rayo Vallecano de Madrid) is at the top of the table in distribution in Spain.

The CIES Football Observatory academic team is at your disposal for more information.

Kind regards

Raffaele Poli, head of CIES Football Observatory

The paper is available to download for free here. footballperspectives.org brings together research - or experienced-based contributions - from academics studying the game and from people working within it on issues affecting football today.

Driven from data collected within the context of the latest Demographic Study, the CIES paper shows the impact of financial inequalities on squad make-up throughout Europe.

The authors notably report that “the proportion of full internationals drops from 46% for big-5 clubs to 15% for fourth echelon leagues”. At club level, during the first semester of the current season Manchester City FC has fielded 24 full internationals, the highest figure in Europe. Manchester City is also the team employing the highest number of players with international caps in 2012 (19).

These figures raise the issues of player hoarding and competitive balance in European football. This is a growing problem which will be addressed in the 2013 edition of the CIES Football Observatory Annual Review to be published next June - shortly after the end of the five major championships.

The full Demographic Study and other publications of the CIES Football Observatory may be purchased here.