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 we take in 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%).
The relative contribution of the employer clubs to the sporting development of current big-5 league players is even more limited. At big-5 league level, footballers only played 17.6% of championship matches in their employer club up until the age of 23. This percentage varies between about one tenth in the Italian Serie A (11.9%) and one fifth in the German Bundesliga (21.7%).
All the data is presented in issue number 106 of the CIES Football Observatory Big-5 Weekly Post. In the next issues, our academic team will develop analysis at club level.
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