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Transfers : value of European Top 5 players would drop by 28 % if the season did not resume (CIES)

News Tank Football - Paris - Actualité n°179681 - Publié le 02/04/2020 à 16:40 -
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©  OM
V. Rongier (FRA) and M. Sanson (FRA), players of Olympique de Marseille - ©  OM

The total transfer value of players in the European Top 5 (Bundesliga German professional football first division. 18 clubs. , LaLiga Santander Spanish first division (20 clubs) ; naming rights contract to the bank Santander since 2016. , Ligue 1 Conforama French professional football 1st division (20 clubs). Conforama (distribution of furniture and household appliances), title sponsor for 2017-2020 (€7m per season). , Premier League Top English professional football division. 20 clubs. , Serie A TIM Italian first division. 20 clubs. ) would decrease by 28% (from €32.7bn to €23.4bn) in the event that no more matches are played in 2019-20 and no contracts are renewed by 30/06/2020, according to the CIES Football Observatory in its weekly post published on 30/03/2020.

CIES ranks the 98 clubs in the European Top 5 according to the potential loss in transfer value for their squads between 11/03 and 30/06/2020. Two French clubs appear at the extremities of the ranking. "The greatest potential percentage loss per club was measured for Olympique de Marseille: -38%. Conversely, the lowest one was recorded for another French Ligue 1 team: Stade Brestois (-16%)," observed CIES.

Of the 24 clubs likely to see their squad lose more than 30 % of its value if the season does not resume due to the Coronavirus pandemic, there are eight Italian clubs, seven Spanish, four English, three French and only two German clubs.


Transfers: Top 20 clubs according to potential loss of player transfer values in the event of the 2019-20 season being cancelled

  • To establish this ranking, CIES has only taken the 20 players with the highest transfer values into account for each club.

CIES: "20 players with the highest values per club (€m), if no matches played and no contract extension" - ©  CIES Football Observatory

  • "The extent of the decrease varies according to several factors such as the players’ age, contract duration, career path and recent performance. The greatest loss in relative terms concerns ageing footballers with short-term contracts who played fewer matches during current season than in the previous one," explained CIES on 30/03/2020. 
  • "As matter of example, Paul Pogba's (FRA) estimated transfer value would almost halve from €65m to €35m," added the Football Observatory.

Transfers: "Amounts are based on objective criteria translatable into a statistical model" (CIES)

CIES: player variables model - ©  CIES Football Observatory

  • "In 2019, for the first time ever, football clubs spent more than €10bn on transfer fees. This figure has more than tripled over the past decade in parallel with the increase of club revenues. Contrary to what is often put forward by persons outside the football world, the amounts for transfer indemnities are not irrational. They are fixed by market actors based on criteria which are for the most part objective, and thus translatable into a statistical model," stated the CIES Football Observatory, in its monthly report published on 16/03/2020.
  • In this report, CIES presents its "scientific method" for estimating potential transfer values based on previous transfer amounts. This model is based on "variables" classified into three groups:
    • variables relating to players: remaining contractual duration, age, international status, career progression, sports performance (minutes of play, goals, assists, dribbles, assists, etc.);
    • variables relating to clubs: sporting level and economic level;
    • contextual variables: the season in which the transfer took place.
  • "Each of the variables contributes in a significant manner (<5% margin of error) in determining the values of football players. The strong correlation measured between the sums estimated and those actually paid indicates that the variables used reflect particularly well the way in which the market actors negotiate fees. In specific cases, particular circumstances can nevertheless have a singular importance," explained CIES.

Centre International d’Étude du Sport

• Activité : Fondation créée par la FIFA, l’Université de Neuchâtel, la Ville et le Canton de Neuchâtel (SUI), en tant qu’institution scientifique indépendante.

• Création : 1995

• Siège Social : Neuchâtel (SUI)
Président du Conseil de fondation : Pierre Cornu
Directeur : Denis Oswald
Secrétaire général : Vincent Schatzmann

• L'Observatoire du CIES, créé en 2005 par Raffaele Poli et Loïc Ravenel, est un groupe de recherche composé d’experts en sciences sociales et spécialistes de l’analyse statistique du sport qui propose des services aux instances gouvernantes du sport, dans les domaines des enquêtes par questionnaire, des bases de données, de l’exploration de données, de l’informatique décisionnelle (business intelligence) et de la production de rapports.

L’observatoire réalise des études mensuelles portant sur la formation des joueurs, leurs performances, la valeur des transferts, etc.


Catégorie : Ecoles & Universités


Adresse du siège

Avenue DuPeyrou 1
2000 Neuchâtel Suisse


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©  OM
V. Rongier (FRA) and M. Sanson (FRA), players of Olympique de Marseille - ©  OM