CIES Football Observatory Study Shows Big-5 Leagues In Dependent Situation

Big-5 league footballers only played 40.4% of matches in the five major championships up until 23 years of age. This finding shows the crucial role of leagues outside the big-5 in the sporting development of players employed by the most competitive teams. The percentage of matches played in the major championships by current big-5 league players until 23 years of age is below 50% for all countries: from only 34.4% in Italy to 45.1% in Germany. These figures are much lower if one takes into account only matches played in the league of belonging of employer clubs: 31.4% at big-5 league level, with a minimum in Serie A (24.4%) and a maximum in Ligue 1 (39.9%) (CIES Football Observatory).

Source: CIES Football Observatory