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)

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.

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.

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.

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 549th Weekly Post presents the 100 players in the world with the highest estimated transfer value, as calculated from the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model. FC Barcelona’s young Spanish prodigy, Lamine Yamal, crushes the competition with a valuation of €358 million. Ahead of Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland (€227 million).