By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 21 January 2013 The number of non-native players in the football leagues of Europe has climbed to record levels, with 36.1 per cent of all players being ‘foreign’ in the leagues in which they play, according to research released today. The CIES Football Observatory […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 December 2012 Barcelona have produced more footballers currently earning a living as first-team players across Europe’s elite ‘Big 5’ divisions than any other club in the world, Sportingintelligence can reveal. The Spanish giants have been responsible for the development of 38 players at top-flight […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 27 February 2012 A new report on the activity of football agents has found that within Europe alone they make a combined income of around €400m a year (or £340m / $538.5m) at today’s exchange rates. The full 82-page report, compiled by the CIES Football Observatory […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 A new demographic study of European football, published today by the CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland, contains detailed analysis of 12,410 footballers at 500 clubs in the top divisions of 33 European countries, reporting among other things how the Russian Premier League […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 The 20 clubs in England’s Premier League are using more ‘club-trained’ players in the 2011-12 season than their counterparts in the top division of Germany’s Bundesliga, a new study shows. Given that the Premier League is sometimes criticised as a cash-rich league […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 Clubs in the Russian Premier League, a 16-team division awash with plutocratic ‘new money’, especially from the oil sector, are rapidly closing the gap in quality between themselves and leading clubs from the top divisions in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, according to […]

By Sportingintelligence  22 November 2011 Borussia Dortmund’s manager Juergen Klopp has dismissed stories that his brilliant 19-year-old German international attacking midfielder Mario Goetze could be on his way to Arsenal for £30m in January as ‘a media issue’. In an interview with the Sport1 website in his native country, Klopp said: “No one just buys […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 September 2011 Arsenal were the only team in Europe’s ‘big five’ divisions last season who were rated best in their division by statistical analysis but failed to win their domestic title, according to research just published by the CIES Football Observatory. Barcelona were rated by […]

By Sportingintelligence 12 September 2011 The Champions League 2011-12 group stage commences this week involving players from 68 different countries, with world champions Spain contributing more players – 81 of them – than any other nation. France contributes the next most among the 32 teams in the group stage, with 77 players, followed by Brazil […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 9 September 2011 The resumption of the Premier League this weekend after the international break coincides with the release of new predictions for the title races in Europe’s five major leagues. Chelsea are tipped to win England’s top division in 2011-12 after a three-horse race […]