Issue number 431 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks 70 leagues around the world according to the average duration of matches during the current or last completed season (Wyscout data). The overall average is 100’15’’, with a maximum of over 106’ in the top two Saudi competition levels.

The Spanish Liga is the competition where referees add the most injury time among the European big-5 (on average 13’03’’), ahead of the English Premier League (11’46’’) and the Italian Serie A (11’04’’). The lowest additional time value overall was recorded in the Finnish top flight (6’07’’), with less than 10% of fixtures lasting more than 100’.

Overall, the percentage of matches that last over 100’ is 52.4%. This proportion varies greatly between leagues: from 100% in the top division of the United Arab Emirates to just 6.7% in the Swiss second division. The share of games with a duration of over 100’ in the European big-5 stretches from 84.6% in Spain to 61.1% in France (71.8% in England).

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The 430th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 100 teams in the world having invested the most on transfer fees (including add-ons regardless of effective payment) to recruit players currently in their squad. Four teams head the list with investments of at least one billion euros: three English clubs (Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City) and one French (Paris St-Germain).

Saudi side Al-Hilal (18th) is the club from outside the European big-5 that has invested the most on transfer indemnities to assemble its squad (€382m), ahead of Leicester City (26th, €281m) and Ajax (32nd, €236m). By position, the biggest spenders are Liverpool for goalkeepers (€73m), Manchester United for defenders (€383m), Real Madrid for midfielders (€447m) and Paris St-Germain for strikers (€557m).

Clubs from nineteen different leagues feature in the top 100, with a maximum of 19 teams for the English Premier League (all clubs except Luton), followed by the Italian Serie A (15 teams), the Spanish Liga (12), the French Ligue 1 (11) and the German Bundesliga (also 11). Among non-European competitions, the Saudi Pro League is the most represented (4 clubs), ahead of Mexico’s Liga MX (3) and Brazil’s Serie A (2).

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CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post number 429 presents the net transfer spending* of the 100 most active clubs in terms of the financial volume of transactions concluded over the last decade. During this period, Manchester United has the most negative balance (-€1.396 billion), while the Portuguese side SL Benfica has the best (+€764 million).

Two other teams have had transfer losses of more than €1 billion over the last ten years: Chelsea and Paris St-Germain. Chelsea also has the most negative balances in the post-COVID period (-€993 million) and the calendar year 2023 (-€558 million). In contrast, SL Benfica outranks AFC Ajax (+€434m) and RB Salzburg (+€422m) over the last decade, while Villarreal CF has the most positive net spending in the 2023 calendar year (+€129m).

Also published today, the 87th CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report presents an even more detailed analysis of transfer-related financial flows in world football over the last decade. In particular, it shows that the amount of transfer fees incurred by clubs in 2023 (around €12.4 billion) was almost 25% higher than in the previous record year of 2019. This is essentially due to the sharp increase of English Premier League and Saudi Pro League clubs’ investments.

* The figures published include fixed transfer fees, any add-ons regardless of whether they have actually been paid, as well as sums invested in the context of paying loans. Amounts negotiated for loans with an obligation to buy are included in the breakdown for the year of the transfer. Within the limits of available information, the data on beneficiaries considers sell-on fees negotiated by previous clubs.

Issue number 428 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players born in 2002 or later who are not yet playing for a big-5 league club, but whose level of experience accumulated over the past year puts them in the best position to successfully take their careers to the next level.

Born in 2003, "air-ground blocker" António Silva (SL Benfica) is the player best equipped to join a top club. His transfer value is estimated at €102.5 million by the CIES Football Observatory statistical model. The Portuguese is ahead of two players born in 2002, "ground-air blocker" Pablo Maia (São Paulo FC, €17.4m) and "shooter-creator" Georgiy Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk, €35.6m).

Barcelona’s new recruit Vitor Roque (Athletico Paranaense, €53.5m) is in fourth place, an impressive ranking for a player born in 2005. Arthur Vermeeren (Anverse, €10.2m) and Jorne Spileers (Bruges, €7.2m) are the only other footballers born in 2005 in the top 100, compared with ten born in 2004, the highest-ranked of whom is the Moroccan full international Bilal El Khannouss (KRC Genk, 14th, €20.6m).

Exclusively developed by the CIES Football Observatory research team, the 100-based experience capital metric is particularly useful for scouts, as it enables them to rank players by considering both their playing time and the sporting level of matches played. This makes it easy to identify the talents whose recruitment offers the best guarantees of success.

A paying platform with numerous statistical indicators has been developed to help professionals optimise their strategies. More information is available on request.

Issue 427 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks the teams in 69 leagues around the world according to the average experience level of players in the squad. Experience is calculated by weighting minutes played in official club or national team matches over the last year by the sporting level of the games, with a maximum possible value of 100.

For the European big-5, Manchester City (85.6 and 63.2), Real Madrid (82.5 / 60.6), Bayern Munich (73.4 / 52.3) and Paris St-Germain (67.9 / 48.5) have the highest values for both ‘starters’ (i.e. the eleven most experienced players) and ‘substitutes’ (up to the next eleven). In Italy, Inter and Napoli are tied for the first (72.7), while Fiorentina leads the way for the second (47.6). The Tuscans could therefore be the surprise package of the season.

In Argentina, River Plate are first for the ‘starters’ and Boca Juniors for the ‘substitutes’. In Brazil, surprise leaders Botafogo are behind Palmeiras, Flamengo and Fluminense. In MLS, Messi’s Inter Miami have the most experienced starters, while Philadelphia Union have the best bench. In Turkey, Fenerbahçe are expected to take the title from Galatasaray, while Benfica should retain their crown in Portugal, as should Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

>>> See the virtual ’experience’ tables in 69 leagues