Observatoire du football CIES

CIES ‘Ballon d'Or': Lamine Yamal again

Admin — 2026-10-26T07:42:32Z

As was the case last year, on the day of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, the CIES Football Observatory took the liberty of compiling a ranking of the 50 most deserving outfield players over the past year, based on three criteria : performances across eight areas of the game according to this methodology (Impect data), the competitive level of the matches played (method) and the results of those matches.
FC Barcelona's prodigy Lamine Yamal takes once again the top spot. The Spaniard is ahead of (…)

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Training clubs' world ranking

Admin — 2026-10-21T06:14:18Z

As every year in October, the CIES Football Observatory presents a global ranking of the best training clubs* based on the number of players from their academies currently active in 49 top division leagues, the sporting level of the matches in which they participated over the past year, their playing time during the same period, and their age (the younger, the better).
SL Benfica recorded the highest training index (101.3 with 93 footballers trained). Argentina's River Plate (training (…)

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Best clubs to add value to their signings

Admin — 2026-10-13T18:04:31Z

The 557th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the rankings of teams worldwide according to the appreciation or depreciation in value of non-academy players signed over the past five years. The calculation considers the balance between transfer fees paid and received for signings who have already been permanently released, and fees paid and current transfer values for those still owned by the club.
Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt tops the rankings with an appreciation of €527 (…)

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New educational video: birthplaces of elite footballers

Admin — 2026-10-09T15:21:37Z

The research team at the CIES Football Observatory is pleased to announce the release of a new educational video unveiling the regions in the five countries hosting Europe's top leagues (England, Germany, France, France, Italy, and Spain) that develop the most elite football players.
The Île-de-France region is the largest source of talent, not only in absolute terms but also relative to the size of its population. In fact, half of all French players competing in top division leagues (…)

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Top valued U20 non-big-5 teenagers

Admin — 2026-10-07T09:39:42Z

The 556th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 U20 players worldwide who are not yet owned by clubs in the big-5 with the highest transfer value according to our statistical model. Although recently injured, FC Porto's Polish prodigy Oskar Pietuszewski tops the list with an estimated value of approximately €56 million.
Jorthy Mokio (AFC Ajax) and Mateus Mané (Wolverhampton) round out the top three. The top 10 also includes players from Brazil (Álvaro Montoro), Saudi (…)

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Game dictating index: Bayern ahead of Barcelona

Admin — 2026-09-30T05:47:28Z

The 555th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams in 68 leagues around the world based on their willingness and ability to dictate the game, as measured by 27 key performance indicators (Impect data*) based on current season domestic league matches.
The highest game dictating scores were recorded for two of the UEFA Champions League favorites : Bayern Munich and Barcelona. The two-time defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, are in fifth place, just behind their partner team, (…)

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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 (…)

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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 (…)

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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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