Future champions: 270 names to watch closely

The 90th Monthly Report of the CIES Football Observatory presents the 30 players born in 2003 or later for nine different positions who have accumulated the most playing experience* over the last year. With 17 footballers, the Spanish Liga is the most represented league, followed by the Dutch Eredivisie, the Belgian Pro League and the MLS in the United States and Canada (16 players in the three cases).

The following footballers head the rankings for their respective position:

• Goalkeepers: Guillaume Restes (2005), Toulouse FC, experience score 77.6 out of 100
• Centre backs: Giorgio Scalvini (2003), Atalanta BC, 92.7
• Right full/wing backs: Arnau Martínez (2003), Girona FC, 95.4
• Left full/wing backs: Alejandro Balde (2003), FC Barcelona, 95.4
• Holding midfielders: Pablo Gavi (2004), FC Barcelona, 96.0
• Attacking midfielders: Jude Bellingham (2003), Real Madrid, 96.2
• Right wingers: Xavi Simons (2003), RB Leizpig, 90.6
• Left wingers: Alejandro Garnacho (2004), Manchester United, 82.9
• Centre forwards: Rasmus Höjlund (2003), Manchester United, 88.9

All the rankings are available for free here. Thank you for your interest and happy holidays!

* Expressed on the basis of 100, the ’experience score’ was calculated from the number of official game minutes played at club (league, national cups, international cups) or national team (senior, U23 and U21) level in 2023 (limited to 2,250 minutes), the sporting level of the 25 most competitive matches in which the footballers took part (method available in this note), as well as the percentage of minutes played as first choice players.