Observatoire du football CIES

CIES ‘Ballon d'Or': Lamine Yamal again

Roger Besson — 2026-10-26T05:56:27Z

As was the case last year, on the day of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, the CIES Football Observatory took the liberty of compiling a ranking of the 50 most deserving outfield players over the past year, based on three criteria : performances across eight areas of the game according to this methodology (Impect data), the competitive level of the matches played (method) and the results of those matches.

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Training clubs' world ranking

Roger Besson — 2026-10-21T05:19:08Z

As every year in October, the CIES Football Observatory presents a global ranking of the best training clubs* based on the number of players from their academies currently active in 49 top division leagues, the sporting level of the matches in which they participated over the past year, their playing time during the same period, and their age (the younger, the better).

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Best clubs to add value to their signings

Roger Besson — 2026-10-13T17:54:22Z

The 557th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the rankings of teams worldwide according to the appreciation or depreciation in value of non-academy players signed over the past five years. The calculation considers the balance between transfer fees paid and received for signings who have already been permanently released, and fees paid and current transfer values for those still owned by the club.

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Top valued U20 non-big-5 teenagers

Roger Besson — 2026-10-07T05:16:41Z

The 556th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 U20 players worldwide who are not yet owned by clubs in the big-5 with the highest transfer value according to our statistical model. Although recently injured, FC Porto's Polish prodigy Oskar Pietuszewski tops the list with an estimated value of approximately €56 million.

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Game dictating index: Bayern ahead of Barcelona

Roger Besson — 2026-09-30T05:19:51Z

The 555th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams in 68 leagues around the world based on their willingness and ability to dictate the game, as measured by 27 key performance indicators (Impect data) based on current season domestic league matches.

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Highest transfer values outside the big-5

Roger Besson — 2026-09-23T05:56:05Z

The 554th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top ten players by league with the highest transfer value across 55 competitions outside Europe's big-5. According to our proprietary statistical model, recently updated with the latest transfers and price inflation, FC Porto's Victor Froholdt has the highest valuation (€83.7 million)

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World's best U21s outside the big-5: last year performance

Roger Besson — 2026-09-16T07:59:38Z

The 533rd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the outfield players who have not yet turned 21 and are playing outside Europe's big-5 having performed best over the past year, based on a score out of 100 calculated from their statistics across eight game areas (Impect data), the number of official minutes played, and the competitive level of these matches.

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Costliest squads: Liverpool takes the lead

Roger Besson — 2026-09-09T05:52:25Z

The 552nd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks the teams worldwide having invested the most on transfer fees (including add-ons, regardless of effective payment) to sign the players currently in their squads. Liverpool FC (€1.226 billion) has moved up three places compared with the same date last year and now tops the table, replacing Chelsea FC.

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Top development clubs worldwide

Roger Besson — 2026-09-02T05:38:02Z

The first CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post for what promises to be an exciting new season ranks teams from 50 top division leagues around the world according to the percentage of domestic league minutes in 2026 by players who had not yet turned 21 at the time of the matches.

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Top-valued teams: three main favourites

Roger Besson — 2026-06-10T05:26:18Z

Based on the estimated transfer values* of the selected players, three national teams look like the main favourites to win the 2026 World Cup. England top the ranking with a total squad value of €1.454 billion. They are followed by France (€1.436 billion) and Spain (€1.407 billion).

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