AFC Ajax tops the CIES Football Observatory 2021 rankings of clubs having trained the most footballers playing in 31 top divisions of UEFA member countries. The Dutch team nurtured 81 players currently active in these championships, six more than Shakhtar Donetsk. Real Madrid and Barcelona co-head the table for players active in the five major European leagues (42).

Issue number 352 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 41 leagues worldwide according to the ratio between big chances created and conceded as per data from our partners InStat. A big chance defines a clear-cut chance to score a goal. Partizan Belgrade (5.0) recorded the best ratio out of the 680 clubs surveyed, ahead of AFC Ajax (4.3) and RB Salzburg (4.1).

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%).

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.

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%).

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.