Deschamps players the busiest at the ‘Big Five’ European league levels
NEUCHATEL: Players fielded by France since June 2015 have played 66,961 minutes in the Big Five leagues during the current season.
This, according to the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) is the highest figure among teams qualified for the Euro 2016 final tournament, ahead of Italy, Spain, England and Germany (All data: Big-5 Weekly Post).
Since last June, France coach Didier Deschamps has fielded 35 footballers who played during the current season in the big-5 leagues (34 for England). So far, they have on average played 1,913 domestic league minutes, which is about 21 matches per player. These figures are 1,585 and 17 for English national A-team players.
Up until now, the employer clubs of Big Five league players fielded by France have achieved 1.72 points per match. The highest value was recorded for teams of Spanish internationals (1.95), ahead of clubs employing footballers representing Germany (1.79) and Italy (1.77).
On average, teams of England internationals achieved so far 1.61 points per match. This is only the ninth highest level among teams qualified.
The figures for all countries are available in issue number 143 of the Big-5 Weekly Post. For more information, the 11th CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report presents the squad profile of the 50 most competitive national A-teams at worldwide level. It notably shows that England fielded the youngest players in 2015 at European level.
