Ribéry best performing big-5 league player...after Messi

Continuing on from last season, Lionel Messi again tops the CIES Football Observatory ranking for the best performing player in 2012/13. However, the second ranked player, Franck Ribéry, almost achieves the same performance levels. This should make him a serious outsider for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or award.

Based on data provided by our partner OptaPro, the CIES Football Observatory rankings take into account pitch productivity in five key areas of the game: shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution and recovery (see below for more details). By weighting each indicator according to the strength of its correlation with club results, we obtain a general index highlighting the most decisive footballers.

Rankings of the ten best performing players in the five major European championships can be found in the final Big-5 Weekly Post of the season. This can now be downloaded from the CIES Football Observatory website.

Barcelona players feature at the top of three rankings out of the five concerning the key areas of the game covered by our analysis: Messi for shooting, Iniesta for chance creation and Xavi for distribution. This demonstrates that the recent success of the Catalan side is not only due to great individual talent, but is also the result of optimal labour division and the distribution of complementary skills amongst their team. Ribéry was the most productive and efficient player for take on, while Chielllini tops the ranking for recovery.

An in-depth analysis of big-5 league clubs and players will be available in the forthcoming eighth edition of the CIES Football Observatory Annual Review. The new Review will be launched on the 13th June 2013. For the first time, this exclusive reference publication will present the economic value of big-5 league players using a new econometric model. This is based on the detailed analysis of the characteristics of nearly 1,000 players transferred for a fee by big-5 league clubs since 2009/10. The development of such a model marks a crucial step in the evolution of our research project.

For more information on our work and to pre-order the Annual Review, please write to [email protected].

Methodological note: specifications of indicators

Shooting measures the effectiveness of players to shoot and score goals, excluding penalties. Chance creation refers to the ability of players to put teammates into shooting positions, with particular emphasis on goal assists. Take on highlights footballers who are both productive and efficient in dribbling, crossing and winning corners. Distribution refers to the ability of players to make accurate passes, above all in the opposition half. Finally, recovery brings to the fore players whose tackling and interceptions minimise the chances for opponents to score goals and shoot, especially from close range.

About the CIES Football Observatory

The CIES Football Observatory was set up in 2005 under the name of the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO). Since 2011, it is one of the cornerstones of the vast CIES Observatory project, dedicated to the statistical analysis of sport in all its diversity. Click here for more information.