June 17 – Updated figures for the CIES Football Observatory show the numbers of home grown players at clubs and getting first team playing time is at an all-time low, with Italy and England having the lowest amounts of local talent in their teams.
Looking at the past five seasons the CIES numbers show that other metrics like height and length of stay at club have generally remained little changes, but the number of home grown players has dropped and the number of expatriates (foreign players) has increased.
The percentage of minutes played by club-trained players also hit a record average low with these players accounting for just 14.3% of minutes played in the Big 5 leagues of Italy, England, Germany, Spain and France.
In England, where the FA is trying hard but unsuccessfully to encourage clubs to invest in home grown talent, the English Premier League hit a new low mark with players who spent at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 in their employer club playing just 10.2% of minutes in the 2014/15 season.
In Italy, where the FA president recently served a UEFA ban over racist comments about the influx of foreign players into the Italian game, the situation is even worse. Just 8.5% of total minutes were played by club-trained players.
Source: CIES Football Observatory
The percentage of minutes played by expatriates is stable at around 46%.
However, the percentage of players who grew up in a different country than that of their employer club reached a new record 59.6% high among the five best ranked teams per league. England topped this table with (77.1%), followed by Italy (71.4%), Spain (57.1%) and Germany (53.1%).
For more information on the CIES Football Observatory database go to http://www.football-observatory.com/Indicators
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