This report analyses the sums paid in transfer indemnities by big-5 league teams (chapter “investments”), the clubs and championships who benefited from these investments (chapter “receipts”), as well as the net balances for both big-5 league teams and the five major European leagues themselves (chapter “net spending”). The period covered stretches from the winter 2012 transfer window to the summer 2021 one.

This 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 in teams, 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.

This Monthly Report analyses the presence of expatriate footballers in 145 leagues from 96 national associations worldwide. On the 1st of May 2021, despite the pandemic, the number of expatriates increased by 639 in comparison to the same date in 2020: from 13,025 to 13,664. This increase in difficult circumstances confirms that the internationalisation of the footballers’ labour market is a well-established process.

This report analyses different indicators regarding the fluidity in matches played since the 1st of July 2019 in a total of 37 European competitions thanks to the data provided by InStat. The study notably reveals that the fluidity of the game depends on geographical and cultural logics.

This report presents the approach developed by the CIES Football Observatory to comparatively assess the sustainability of squads based on three elements: players’ age, the length of their stay in their employer club and the duration of their contracts. The study covers the squads of the 98 teams from the five major European championships.

This Report presents the second CIES Football Obaervatory analysis on the demographic profile of players and teams of four Latin American leagues: the Brazilian, Argentinean, Mexican and Chilean top divisions. The study comprises 2,260 footballers having played domestic league minutes during the second semester of the 2020 calendar year for one of the 80 clubs from the competitions surveyed.