By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 A new demographic study of European football, published today by the CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland, contains detailed analysis of 12,410 footballers at 500 clubs in the top divisions of 33 European countries, reporting among other things how the Russian Premier League […]
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OFFICIAL: Premier League beats Bundesliga on ‘club-trained’ players as Serie A flops
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 The 20 clubs in England’s Premier League are using more ‘club-trained’ players in the 2011-12 season than their counterparts in the top division of Germany’s Bundesliga, a new study shows. Given that the Premier League is sometimes criticised as a cash-rich league […]
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NEW STUDY: Russian Premier League rapidly closing gap on Europe’s ‘Big Five’
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 Clubs in the Russian Premier League, a 16-team division awash with plutocratic ‘new money’, especially from the oil sector, are rapidly closing the gap in quality between themselves and leading clubs from the top divisions in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, according to […]
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Dortmund’s Klopp plays down Arsenal interest in £30m Goetze as ‘a media issue’
By Sportingintelligence 22 November 2011 Borussia Dortmund’s manager Juergen Klopp has dismissed stories that his brilliant 19-year-old German international attacking midfielder Mario Goetze could be on his way to Arsenal for £30m in January as ‘a media issue’. In an interview with the Sport1 website in his native country, Klopp said: “No one just buys […]
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Arsenal unique in being technically ‘best’ but not winning title last season
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 September 2011 Arsenal were the only team in Europe’s ‘big five’ divisions last season who were rated best in their division by statistical analysis but failed to win their domestic title, according to research just published by the CIES Football Observatory. Barcelona were rated by […]
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Spain the dominant force in providing Champions League players
By Sportingintelligence 12 September 2011 The Champions League 2011-12 group stage commences this week involving players from 68 different countries, with world champions Spain contributing more players – 81 of them – than any other nation. France contributes the next most among the 32 teams in the group stage, with 77 players, followed by Brazil […]
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Boffins tip Chelsea’s experience to give them edge over Manchester duo in title race
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 9 September 2011 The resumption of the Premier League this weekend after the international break coincides with the release of new predictions for the title races in Europe’s five major leagues. Chelsea are tipped to win England’s top division in 2011-12 after a three-horse race […]
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Neymar, Lucas and the Samba young guns: keeping us nuts about Brazil (and the numbers that prove Europe’s infatuation)
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 28 March 2011 . Neymar is 19 and hails from Pele’s old club Santos, and Lucas is 18 and plays for Sao Paulo, whose alumni include Kaka. Both shone against Scotland at the Emirates on Sunday and when – not if – they come to Europe, […]
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REVEALED: Arsenal and Athletic Bilbao at extremes on foreign player use
By Nick Harris 16 August 2010 Arsenal were the most extreme example of a “foreign staffed” football club in any of Europe’s five major leagues last season, with non-English players accounting for 93.3 per cent of minutes played by the Gunners. This was among the headline findings in the fifth annual Review of the European […]
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