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.