This report identifies 200 players – the top 10 in 20 classification categories – who were born after the 1st January 2002 and have gained the most playing experience in 2022. It is a showcase of the exclusive CIES Football Observatory approach for player scouting, gathering within a coherent framework different and complementary information such as playing time, competitive level, positions, technical domains of activity, age, contract duration and transfer value.

This report traces the development paths of players selected for the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup. It analyses the current clubs and leagues of World Cup participants (chapter “Employment”), the clubs and associations where these footballers have been for at least three years between their 15th and 21st birthday (chapter “Training”), as well as the teams and senior leagues where they have played official matches up until they turned 23 (chapter “Development”).

Since 2009, the CIES Football Observatory carries out a census of players from clubs in 31 top divisions of UEFA member associations, enabling us to better understand the dynamics at work in the European football players’ labour market. This report presents the demographic portrait of players, clubs and leagues across Europe, as well the main trends observed.

This report compares the recruitment policies of big-5 league teams from the perspective of the age of players signed. The first part analyses the average age of recruitment of players currently in squads, both by league and by club. The second part studies the policies pursued over the past decade by the fifty clubs always present in the big-5 over this period.

This report analyses transfer fees paid by big-5 league teams (chapter “investments”), the clubs and leagues having benefited from these indemnities (chapter “receipts”), as well as the net balances at both teams’ and leagues’ level (chapter “net spending”) for transactions occurred between January 2013 and August 2022.

The June 2022 Monthly Report of the CIES Football Observatory analyses the squad make up of ten of the main women’s leagues worldwide from the aspects of players’ age, playing time of expatriate footballers and origins represented among the latter. The study covers the six-year period from 2017 to 2022.

The 75th Monthly Report analyses the origins of expatriate players in 135 professional leagues worldwide (83 European, 20 Asian, 18 South American, ten North American and four African) and presents the trends for the six-year period between 2017 and 2022.

This Monthly Report continues the reflection started in the previous edition in determining the technical profile of players. It presents a role-based approach, which is particularly useful for determining profiles based on actions carried out by players in comparison to teammates, independently of their position on the pitch.

The 73rd edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report analyses the characteristics of coaches from 1,866 teams from 126 leagues in 89 countries worldwide. The study focuses on the coaches’ age, their tenure duration since their entry into office up until the 1st March 2022, their origin (national/expatriate) and their sporting biography (former professional player or not).

This Monthly Report presents the method developed by the CIES Football Observatory to determine the technical profile of footballers, ranking them in different groups and establishing hierarchies within the latter. To do this, we have based ourselves on the data produced by our partners from InStat referring to the actions (shots, crosses, interceptions, etc.) undertaken by 7,215 players from 36 European leagues.

This Monthly Report compares ten non-European leagues and the top five European ones from the point of view of the demographic characteristics of players involved. The comparison covers footballers fielded in domestic league games during the second semester of 2021.

This Monthly Report presents the method developed by the CIES Football Observatory to rank players globally by combining their playing time with the sporting level of the teams for which they played or the competitions they participated in. The so-called “experience capital” method is particularly useful to scout young players.

The 69th Monthly Report analyses the data from the annual census carried out since 2009 by the CIES Football Observatory on players from 31 European top men divisions. It first presents the changes observed on a demographic level and then highlights the clubs that stand out the most from league rivals from the point of view of age, the presence of club-trained players, that of expatriates, as well as squad stability.

Since last summer, the CIES Football Observatory has had the pleasure of working with match data produced by SkillCorner. This Monthly Report focuses on the distance covered by players during matches played during the 2020 or 2020/21 seasons in 31 competitions from both Europe and America. The study analyses the distances covered according to speed and present comparisons with regard to leagues, team results and player position.

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.