CIES to Present Football Observatory at Soccerex European Forum 2012 (28 - 29 March, 2012 Manchester)

Soccerex are pleased to announce that the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory will be presenting an exclusive report on the player market across Europe as part of a session on player development as part of this year’s conference agenda at the Soccerex European Forum, 28-29 March, 2012 in Manchester.

The CIES Football Observatory is one of the cornerstones of the vast CIES Observatory project, dedicated to the statistical analysis of sport in all its diversity. CIES will take UEFA’s definition of club-trained players as a starting point to compare trends measured since 2005 in each of the European clubs championships, assessing the impact of the Home-grown Rule introduced in the Premier League since 2010/11. The report will present data related to individual clubs, ranking those that are fielding the most club-trained, and those that have trained the most players present in the top league clubs. The report will estimate the economic worth of club-trained players in clubs at the top level highlighting the value that has been gained or lost.

Raffaele Poli, Head of the CIES Football Observatory, stated: ‘I will be honoured and delighted to exclusively present the most recent statistics on the progression in the presence of home-grown players throughout top division European leagues at the Soccerex European Forum. Soccerex is the perfect platform for us to present our findings as it attracts the leading Rights Holders from across Europe.’

Created in 1995 as a joint venture between FIFA, the University of Neuchâtel and the City and State of Neuchatel, CIES is an independent study centre which uses a multi-disciplinary approach to provide research, top-level education and consulting services to the sports world with the aim of understanding the complexities of sport in today’s society and improving how it is governed and managed across all sports.

The CIES presentation will proceed the conference session on player development which will explore grass-root training and the acquisition of players from clubs and leagues within Europe and their importance following the introduction of Financial Fair Play. UEFA’s new policy will encourage clubs to focus on youth development as it is one area alongside stadium and training improvements which is not capped financially under the regulations; by investing in youth, clubs will hope to overcome the economic restraints on player transfers and, in some cases, generate a return on investment by selling the top players they produce. The session will also consider the Elite Player Performance plan, a new initiative presented by the Premier League and its clubs, representatives of the Football League, the Football Association and other key football stakeholders.

Player development is just one in a number of topics being discussed at this year’s European Forum; other subjects include match fixing and betting, UEFA, the relationship between football and the media, league structure, ownership and sponsorship. In addition, there will be a number of workshops running alongside Studio 1 dedicated to emerging markets, stadia, leagues and rights holders.

Beside its conference programme, the European Forum will also comprise of a packed exhibition displaying all the latest products and services within the industry and a number of networking opportunities, formal and informal, throughout the two days.