Observatoire du football CIES

Highest transfer values outside the big-5

Loïc Ravenel — 2026-09-23T13:11:01Z

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)
Benfica's Vangelis Pavlidis (€65.0 m) and Al-Hilal's Gabriel Martinelli (€63.6 m) round up the podium. In other major leagues, the following (…)

- Newsletter_EN / Lettre mensuelle, abonnement

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

Loïc Ravenel — 2026-09-16T09:12:18Z

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.
Argentine Gianluca Prestianni tops the rankings with a score of 86.5 out of 100. The Benfica right winger, whose transfer (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre hebdomadaire

Costliest squads: Liverpool takes the lead

Loïc Ravenel — 2026-09-09T07:16:05Z

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.
Six English clubs occupy the top six places, whilst Real Madrid has overtaken Paris Saint-Germain among teams from other countries. The (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre hebdomadaire

Top development clubs worldwide

Loïc Ravenel — 2026-09-02T07:42:59Z

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.
Topping the table with 48.1% of minutes by U21s are Danish side FC Nordsjælland. This is a unique team and project, bringing together players trained locally or at the Right to Dream partner academy in Ghana, as (…)

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(Good) news from the CIES Football Observatory

Loïc Ravenel — 2026-08-28T11:16:51Z

As the transfer window draws to a close – with spending likely to reach record levels – and with most leagues resuming their fixtures following the World Cup, the CIES Football Observatory wishes you a fantastic new football season, with a Prospect Sheet as a gift.
Compiled by combining data generated by us with that collected by our partners at Impect, the analysis focuses on Feyenoord's Dutchman Gjivai Zechiël, who stands out for his finishing ability. With a contract valid for just two (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre mensuelle

New video on migration in football

Admin — 2026-08-04T12:25:56Z

With another record-breaking transfer window in full swing, footballers are getting ready to pack their bags. Many of them are already playing outside the countries where they grew up, or are preparing for their first experience abroad. Where do these migrant footballers come from? Where are they going? Covering 135 leagues in 88 countries, this video explores the global geography of migration in football.
The analysis highlights the main exporting countries and migration patterns. From (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre mensuelle

The CIES Football Observatory breaks new ground with Impect

Admin — 2026-06-30T08:56:36Z

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in full swing, the CIES Football Observatory is proud to present a new tool, available free of charge, for analysing the characteristics of participating teams and players from the perspective of their technical performance.
For each outfield player fielded for at least 60 minutes, the tool provides an overall performance score out of 100, as well as scores across eight areas of play, based on match data exclusively produced by our partners at Impect, through (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre hebdomadaire

CIES Football Observatory's survey findings

Admin — 2026-06-23T08:04:30Z

The CIES Football Observatory's research team is pleased to present the results of a survey conducted among our newsletter subscribers on the actions considered necessary in terms of the governance of men's club soccer. In total, we received 1,424 responses.
For each question asked, we present the proportion of respondents who rated the urgency of taking further action in the relevant area as at least four on a scale of five. The percentages range from 84.9% of respondents calling for (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre mensuelle

Negative correlation between temperature and physical performance

Admin — 2026-06-17T09:43:44Z

The CIES Football Observatory is pleased to present a video analysing the relationship between the distance covered by players during a match and the ambient temperature. Data collected in partnership with SkillCorner from 35 leagues around the world indicates a significant decrease in the distance covered as temperatures rise.
On average, a player covers 10.1 km during 90 minutes of play if the temperature does not exceed 15°C ; this distance decreases by about one kilometre when the (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre mensuelle

Top-valued teams: three main favourites

Roger Besson — 2026-06-10T09:06:16Z

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). The values of all qualified teams are listed in the 550th Weekly Post of the CIES Football Observatory.
With inflation and a larger number of participating teams, the estimated total value of all squads in the (…)

- Newsletter_EN / abonnement, Lettre hebdomadaire