Issue number 188 of the Weekly Post presents the best players of the 2016/17 big-5 league season. The rankings were elaborated according to the exclusive CIES Football Observatory’s approach to measure player performance on an objective and comparable basis. Lionel Messi outranks Cristiano Ronaldo in the table for wingers.

The ability to both create and convert big chances is a key success factor. However, issue number 187 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights that in four out of the five major European leagues, teams heading the table distinguished themselves from runner-up clubs above all for their ability to score with no clear-cut opportunity available.

Issue number 186 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the results of big-5 league teams according to the transfer expenditure to sign players fielded over the 2016/17 season. A positive and significant correlation was measured between fees paid and points per match in all leagues surveyed. This confirms the strong link between money and success.

Issue number 185 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 100 list of the best performing big-5 league players in the area of dribbling. Middlesbrough’s Adama Traoré outranks Eden Hazard (Chelsea) and Allan St-Maximin (Bastia). Neymar, Lionel Messi and Alexis Sánchez also are in the top 10 positions of the rankings.

The CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post n° 184 presents the percentage of matches ended with a three-goal gap or over for 31 top division European leagues, as well as UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League. The analysis shows that the Champions League is among the most unbalanced competitions.

Issue number 183 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks 31 top division European leagues according to goals scored since July 1st 2016. At the top of the table is the Swiss Super League (3.33 goals per game). The Russian Premier League finds itself at the opposite end of the spectrum (1.99).