April 8 – New data from the CIES Football Observatory shows the dependence of Europe’s clubs from the Big 5 leagues of England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy on clubs outside their leagues to develop players.
The CIES data finds that only 40.4% of players on the pitch for clubs in these leagues were under the age of 23.
All five countries have less than 50% of players involved in major championship matches under 23 years of age. The range goes from 34.4% in Italy to 45.1% in Germany.
These figures drop even lower if just looking at league matches, to an average of 31.4%, ranging from 24.4% in Serie A to 39.9% in Ligue 1.
When looking at the number of U23 players from clubs’ own academy development schemes graduating into their first teams, the figures are even lower at an average of 17.6%, ranging from 11.9% in Serie A to 21.7% in the Bundesliga.
Source: CIES Football Observatory
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