Since last summer, the CIES Football Observatory has had the pleasure of working with the French leading company SkillCorner, specialised in the generation of physical data on football players. The 68th Monthly Report analyses the distances covered, notably according to running speed, for 7,855 matches played during the 2020 or 2020/21 seasons in 31 leagues from both Europe and America.

The study shows that players from European teams tend to cover more ground than those from South American clubs, which reflects a more rapid playing style. However, the gaps between the competitions analysed are not very marked. The values per outfield player and match stretch from 10.3km for the Spanish Liga and 9.6km in the Brazilian Serie A.

A significant link exists between the players’ age and distances covered, whether for total distance or that ran in high intensity (> 19.8 km/h). The strongest relation was recorded between the forwards’ age and high-speed runs. This finding confirms that the propensity of strikers to cover distances at high intensity decreases over the years, revealing the advantage of having young forwards in the squad.

Important differences at the level of total distances covered and the speed of runs also exist between positions. Midfielders run the most (10.6km per match on average), while centre backs the least (9.2km). Wingers cover the greatest distance both in high intensity (932m) and when sprinting (211m). In these cases too, the lowest figures were measured for centre backs.

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Issue number 351 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks clubs in 31 top divisions from UEFA member associations according to the percentage of domestic league minutes played by expatriates. The highest value overall was recorded for the Greek side Aris FC (98.4% of minutes), while Udinese Calcio (88.0%) tops the rankings for big-5 league clubs ahead of Chelsea FC (86.8%).

LOSC Lille, RB Leipzig and Atlético Madrid are the most foreign-oriented clubs in the other three major European championships, while Rangers FC tops the table in Scotland, Boavista FC in Portugal, Fatih Karagümrük in Turkey and SBV Vitesse in the Netherlands. The notion of expatriates refers to footballers who grew up in a different association from that of the employer club.

Only two teams out of the 474 surveyed did not field any expatriate player in domestic league games: the Ukrainian side FK Desna and the Basques of Athletic Club. The CIES Football Observatory is also happy to unveil that an improved version of the Demographic Atlas with current season’s data is now available here. Enjoy the tool!

Issue number 350 of the Weekly Post presents the estimated squad transfer values of the 98 teams in the big-5. The figures were calculated on the basis of the exclusive CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The two teams having invested the most to sign their current players, Manchester City and Manchester United, also are at the top of those with the highest estimated squad value.

The Manchester teams would potentially collect more than €1.2 billion in transfer indemnities if they decided put all their current squad members on the market. Chelsea completes the podium with an estimated squad value of €946 million. Barcelona heads the rankings in the Spanish Liga (€896M), Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga (€890M), Paris St-Germain in the French Ligue 1 (€808M) and Juventus in the Italian Serie A (€618M).

The estimated transfer value of all English Premier League players totals €8.9 billion (€445M per team on average). For the other leagues of the big-5, these figures are €5.3 billion for the Spanish Liga (€263M per club), €4.5 billion for the German Bundesliga (€251M), €4.4 billion for the Italian Serie A (€222M) and €3.4 billion for the French Ligue 1 (€172M). The individual estimates for all big-5 league players are available here.

Issue number 349 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 72 top divisions worldwide according to the average age of line-ups fielded in the current season and the percentage of minutes played by footballers who did not yet celebrate their 21st birthday. Monaco played so far with the youngest line-ups in the five major European leagues (24.3 years), while Bayer Leverkusen fielded U21 players for the highest percentage of minutes (24%).

With 23% of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers, Barcelona ranks second in the big-5 ahead of four French Ligue 1 teams (Nice, Rennes, Marseille and Reims). Arsenal fielded so far the youngest line-ups in the English Premier League (25.0 years), while Spezia did so in the Italian Serie A (24.8 years) and Real Sociedad in the Spanish Liga (25.5 years). At the opposite end for each big-5 league are Lazio (30.3), Elche (29.9), Burnley (29.3), Bochum (28.7) and Clermont Foot (28.0).

The Latvian side FK Metta fielded the youngest line-ups overall (20.2 years on average) and the Armenians of BKMA Yerevan top the table for the highest percentage of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers (79%). On the contrary, 89 of the 1’041 teams surveyed did not field any U21 player, among which Wolfsburg, Newcastle United, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, West Ham United, Rangers FC, Trabzonspor, Mamelodi Sundowns, Columbus Crew and Al Hilal SFC.

The 348th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the forecasts for the 2021/22 season at the level of the five major European leagues. The statistical model used for this purpose includes the players’ experience, transfer fee investments to assemble squads, as well as each team’s performance in the last 365 days.

With respect to 2020/21, the only change from a champions perspective is supposed to take place in Spain, with Real Madrid finishing ahead of Atlético and Barcelona. In England, the top four would be the same as last season, with Tottenham fifth ahead of Everton. Norwich City, Watford and Newcastle United are the main candidates for relegation.

In Italy, Inter Milan would outrank Napoli and city rivals Milan AC, with Juventus only sixth. Wolfsburg are the most likely runners-up in the German Bundesliga, ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen. In France, after Paris St-Germain, we would find the two Olympique (Marseille and Lyon in this order), while St-Etienne is a serious candidate for relegation.

Issue number 347 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 36 domestic leagues worldwide – 32 in Europe and 4 in the Americas – according to the number of passes made per match during current season as per data provided by our partners InStat. Paris St-Germain tops the rankings with an average of 738 passes.

In terms of the percentage of passes made in the opposite half, the Ukrainians of Shakhtar Donetsk are clearly at the top with an astonishing 68%, ahead of Manchester City (60%) and Ajax (57%). At the bottom of the rankings are Cosenza (22%) and two big-5 league teams: Norwich City and Elche (both 25%). As for the rate of accurate passes, the values vary between 92.6% for Paris St-Germain and Lazio, down to just 66.1% for Salernitana.

Regarding the four non-European leagues included in the sample, the highest figure for passes was measured for Flamengo (606, 87.7% of which accurate), while the lowest was observed for the Mexican side Atlético San Luis (336, 76.8%). Flamengo tops the table also for the proportion of passes in the opposite half alongside the Colombians of Deportes Quindío (50.3%). Another Brazilian team, Grêmio, complete the podium.

Issue number 346 of the Weekly Post presents the annual CIES Football Observatory analysis on big-5 league teams’ transfer fee spending to assemble their squads. With an estimated €1.08 billion invested to sign their current players (possible add-ons included), Manchester City remains at the top of the rankings. However, with respect to the start of the 2020/21 season, the gap with Manchester United went down by almost €140 million: from €192M to just about €58M.

The Manchester teams are the only ones to have spent over a billion euro in transfer indemnities to make up their current squads. Paris St-Germain complete the podium (€957M, + €69M with respect to the previous season), followed by Real Madrid (€787M, + €79M) and Chelsea (€780M, + €17M). Three further English Premier League teams (Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham), as well as Barcelona and Juventus, also paid more than €500 M in transfer fees to assemble their squads.

Per league, the average transfer expenditure per team to sign current squad members vary between €410 million for the English Premier League (with a minimum of about €87M for Norwich City) and €131M for both the French Ligue 1 (with a minimum for Clermont Foot) and the German Bundesliga (with a minimum for Bochum). The data for 2020/21 are available here.

The 67th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report analyses from an economic perspective transfer operations carried out by big-5 league clubs during the last decade. It notably shows that the declining trend in investments after the health crisis has stopped. During the last transfer window, clubs from the five major European leagues spent 2% more than in the previous summer.

The study also shows that the pandemic has reinforced the domination of English Premier League clubs on the transfer market. The percentage of spending of the latter in comparison to the total big-5 league clubs’ transfer expenditure has increased from 35% between January 2012 and January 2020 to over 45% for the three post-COVID transfer windows.

The percentage of investments of the ten clubs having spent the most has also increased between these periods (from 33% to 35% per transfer window on average), as that of the ten most expensive transfers in comparison to the total (from 30% to 33%). All the indicators show a trend towards a concentration of spending from the richest clubs, in particular the wealthiest Premier League ones.

Six English teams are at the top of the rankings for the most negative post-pandemic net transfer spending, with Manchester United (-€217 million) ahead of Chelsea (-€205 M) and Arsenal (-€194 M). Since the COVID crisis, English top division clubs recorded a total deficit of almost two billion euro in transfer operations. Conversely, Spanish Liga teams registered a positive net balance (+€200 million).

Within the context of a general crisis, the English Premier League is the only competition where a majority of clubs invest massively on the transfer market. This allowed many teams from the other big-5 leagues, and, in a cascade effect, further down, to limit the impact of the health crisis and shows the importance of a global transfer system as it currently exists.

At the same time, the dependence of a growing number of clubs even within the wealthiest leagues on transfer incomes highlights the weakness of the current professional football economic system. The survival of more and more teams pivots indeed on the profits generated through the transfer of their best players. This situation is both financially dangerous and sportingly limiting.

FULL REPORT

Age categories in youth football are generally defined from January 1st onwards. Issue number 345 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the month of birth of 43,938 players fielded in 2021 in 119 leagues worldwide. The study confirms the relative age effect, i.e. the advantage to be born early in the year to make a career.

In total, 31.2% of players in the sample are born in the first trimester of the year. In contrast, only 19.0% are born in the last trimester. Without relative age effect, these proportions should have been around 25%. Per national origin, the stronger concentration of footballers born in the first trimester was measured for the Chinese (43.6%). An over-representation was recorded for 64 of the 67 origins with at least 200 representatives in the sample.

The very low proportion of Japanese born in the first trimester (16.2%) is also the result of a relative age effect. Indeed, in Japan, youth categories start on April 1st. In England, players born in the first trimester are just slightly over-represented (27.1%) insofar as the reference date to define age categories is September 1st.

Issue number 344 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post lists the 100 footballers worldwide who did not yet celebrate their 20th birthday and gained the most experience in official senior matches over the course of the year (minutes weighted by sporting strength of employer clubs or competitions played). The FC Barcelona’s gem Pedri González is clearly at the top of the table ahead of Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood and Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch.

The Brazilian midfielder Matheus Martinelli (4th) is the best-ranked teenager playing outside of Europe, ahead of the 2003-born Uruguayan Fabricio Díaz from Liverpool Montevideo (7th) and his teammate at Fluminense Lucas Calegari (11th). Apart from Díaz, two other footballers born in 2003 are in the top 10 positions of the rankings: the Englishman Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) and the German Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen).

The Paraguayan Julio Enciso (Club Libertad) is the only footballer born in 2004 in the top 100 list. With 22 goals in official senior games in 2021, Benjamin Šeško (Salzburg and Liefering) is the top scorer among players listed. The Slovenian striker outranks the Czech national A-team player Adam Hložek (Sparta Praha), the Uruguayan Matías Arezo (River Plate Montevideo) and the German with Nigerian descent Karim Adeyemi (Salzburg).

With the start of a new and exciting season, the CIES Football Observatory is delighted to disclose some of the exclusive player physical data produced by our fresh partners SkillCorner. The French company has developed a unique and automated approach to track players from any football broadcast, whilst generating physical data and continuous XY tracking via specialised algorithms. With over 40 competitions covered worldwide, they position themselves as leaders in the market.

Issue number 343 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks 28 competitions according to the percentage of high intensity runs (>19.8 km/h) out of the total distance covered by players. The data refer to the last completed season. The English Premier League tops the table ahead of the Polish Ekstraklasa and the Spanish Liga. Conversely, the MLS, the Scottish Premiership and the Brazilian Serie A are at the bottom of the rankings.

At club level, Leeds United stands out with almost one tenth of the overall distance ran in high intensity. For the other four major European competitions, the greatest proportions were recorded for Athletic Club in Spain, Olympique Lyonnais in France, Juventus in Italy and Wolfsburg in Germany. With regard to overall distance covered, the leaders are Barcelona, Napoli, Leeds United (again), Hoffenheim and Angers.

The 66th CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report studies the changes occurred during the past five years in ten of the principal women’s leagues worldwide from the aspect of the players’ age, the percentage of expatriate footballers, as well as that of full international players. It notably shows the growing influence of the major European men’s clubs in the sphere of women’s football.

The fresh capital invested has notably stimulated the international mobility of women footballers. In the ten leagues studied, the percentage of expatriates has increased from 21.6% in 2017 to a record 33.0% in 2021. The increasing dominance of the traditionally men’s clubs in women’s football is clearly visible when looking at teams with the greatest number of full internationals. In the first 15 places are 14 teams whose male counterparts play in the five major European leagues.

The development of women’s football in Europe has encouraged more and more players from the best women’s football nation, the United States, to emigrate. In June 2021, with 87 citizens abroad in the championships studied, the United States were by far the most represented expatriate origin, ahead of Sweden (39 players) and Canada (37 players).