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Brand new player performance comparator widget

The CIES Football Observatory has further developed its website with the inclusion of a brand new player performance widget. Using data provided by OptaPro, this unique tool allows users to compare the technical profile of players from the five major European leagues.

The comparison takes into account the performance of players in six areas of the game: rigour, recovery, distribution, take on, chance creation and shooting. The CIES Football Index measures the general performance of footballers over the last 1,000 domestic league minutes played. More information on the exclusive CIES Football Observatory approach is available in this research note.

This new and exciting tool is an ideal complement to the transfer value trend widget launched last month. The CIES Football Observatory research team is happy to stay at your disposal for any request at football.observatory@cies.ch.

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Training clubs: Ajax and Real Madrid at the top

Issue number 200 of the increasingly popular CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the clubs having trained the most footballers present on the 1st of October 2017 in 31 top division European leagues. At the top of the table is Ajax Amsterdam, while Real Madrid trained the most big-5 league players.

Following UEFA’s definition, training clubs are teams where players stayed for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. AFC Ajax trained 71 footballers currently active in the 31 European championships surveyed. This figure was 72 on the 1st of October 2016. The Dutch team outranks Dinamo Zagreb (67) and Partizan Belgrad (61).

As for 2016, Real Madrid tops the table for big-5 league players. Eight of the 41 footballers trained by the Spanish side still play at Real Madrid. The second and third teams having trained the most players currently active in the five major European championships are Barcelona (34) and Olympique Lyonnais (31).

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Shots on target: SSC Naples heads the table

The ability of teams to shoot is a key success factor. This holds even more true with regard to shots on target. Using the exclusive data produced by InStat, issue number 199 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 clubs from the main top division European leagues presenting the highest figures for shots on target per match during the current season.

No team in the competitions surveyed achieved as many shots on target per domestic league game as SSC Napoli: 8.9. The Italian top-ranked team outranks Ajax (8.5) and their opponents in tonight Champions League game Manchester City (8.0).

The number of shots on target correlates inversely with the average distance of shots attempted. The best performing teams not only attempt more shots overall, but shoot on average from a closer range than less competitive sides. Consequently, the percentage of their shots that reach the target is generally higher.

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Apollon Limassol at the top of the expatriate table

Issue number 198 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks top division teams from 31 European associations according to the percentage of domestic league minutes played by expatriates since the start of the season. Three Cypriot clubs are at the top of this ranking: Apollon Limassol (99.8%), Anorthosis Famagusta (95.3%) et AEK Larnaca (91.5%). Chelsea is ranked first at the big-5 league level (90.4%).

Expatriates are players who grew up in a different association from that of their employer club and who went abroad for football-related reasons. Only three teams out of the 466 included in the analysis did not yet field expatriate footballers in domestic league games this season: Oleksandriya (UKR), Veres (UKR) and HIFK (FIN).

In total, expatriates played 41.6% of minutes available. At league level, this figure varies from 80.2% in the Cypriot top division to 15.0% in Serbia. The data for all leagues and clubs surveyed is available for free in the exclusive CIES Football Observatory Digital Atlas.

Monthly Report: performance and playing styles in 35 European leagues

The analysis of pitch performances at both individual and collective level is one of the three principle fields of research of the CIES Football Observatory. The 28th edition of our Monthly Report compares 35 national competitions across Europe using the database made available by the InStat company. The sample comprises 19,544 matches played between the 1st September 2015 and the 31st August 2017.

The analysis focuses on three aspects: the teams’ ball management, the degree of openness of games, as well as the level of power balance between opponents. The principle conclusion drawn is that the top leagues differentiate themselves above all by the fluidity of games, as illustrated by the highest level of successful passes and the quickest ball circulation.

The five best values in terms of passes per minutes of possession were recorded for the five major European championships, with a maximum of 18.2 for the German Bundesliga. The big-5 leagues also top the table for the percentage of successful passes, with a maximum of 82.4% for the Italian Serie A. More surprisingly, the Swedish and Israeli top divisions figure high in this ranking.

This study is but an initial foray in exploiting the numerous possibilities available thanks to the new collaboration between the CIES Football Observatory and InStat. The depth and breadth of data produced by this company constitutes a solid basis for many future research projects.

Transfer value trends: Lukaku at the top

The CIES Football Observatory has specialised in the scientific estimation of professional players’ transfer value. Issue number 197 of the Weekly Post highlights big-5 league footballers whose transfer value augmented the most in absolute terms since July 2017. At the head of the rankings are Romelu Lukaku (+€56m), Kylian Mbappé (+€50m) and Paulo Dybala (+€47m).

The estimated value of Romelu Lukaku increased by 54% during the last three months: from €102.7m before his transfer to Manchester United to €158.5 m after his excellent start of the season. Beyond inflation, expensive transfers to other teams, contract extensions and top level performances are the key reasons underlying the strongest increases observed.

In relative terms, the increase was above 100% for many young and promising players. Among them notably are Patrick Cutrone (Milan), Adama Diakhaby (Monaco) and Dennis Geiger (Hoffenheim). The exclusive CIES Football Observatory transfer value widget presents the trends for all big-5 league players, while their technical profile is available here.

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