This Monthly Report analyses the presence of expatriate footballers in 145 leagues from 96 national associations worldwide. On the 1st of May 2021, despite the pandemic, the number of expatriates increased by 639 in comparison to the same date in 2020: from 13,025 to 13,664. This increase in difficult circumstances confirms that the internationalisation of the footballers’ labour market is a well-established process.

This report analyses different indicators regarding the fluidity in matches played since the 1st of July 2019 in a total of 37 European competitions thanks to the data provided by InStat. The study notably reveals that the fluidity of the game depends on geographical and cultural logics.

This report presents the approach developed by the CIES Football Observatory to comparatively assess the sustainability of squads based on three elements: players’ age, the length of their stay in their employer club and the duration of their contracts. The study covers the squads of the 98 teams from the five major European championships.

This Report presents the second CIES Football Obaervatory analysis on the demographic profile of players and teams of four Latin American leagues: the Brazilian, Argentinean, Mexican and Chilean top divisions. The study comprises 2,260 footballers having played domestic league minutes during the second semester of the 2020 calendar year for one of the 80 clubs from the competitions surveyed.

This Monthly Report presents the principal results of a questionnaire survey carried out between December 2020 and January 2021 to know the opinion of fans on the professional game. It focuses on the following thematic areas: match events, scheduling, spectacle, access to the spectacle, revenues, inequalities, abuses, gender and transfers.

The 60th Monthly Report presents the methodology of the CIES Football Observatory for the comparison of the technical performance of players in a statistically objective manner and applies it to footballers in 35 domestic leagues of UEFA member associations. The data used was produced by the company InStat. It refers to the 2020/21 season (or 2020 for the summer championships).