February 16 – Research by the CIES Football Observatory into the age ranges within clubs in 31 top division European leagues finds that the most competitive clubs are the ones with older squads.
The authors say that their research (they began their data collection in 2009) “reveals great cultural differences in the perception of the most favourable age structure for a squad. At one extreme, the youngest champions are to be found in the Netherlands (24.2 years), where teams pay high attention to the training and development of young talents. At the other extreme, Cypriot champion teams had the oldest squads over the period surveyed (28.8 years).”
Between 2009 and 2017, the median age of champions in the five major European leagues was also 26.5 years old. “In order to achieve success at the highest level, it is important for clubs to have as many players who did not celebrate their 27th birthday than footballers over this age threshold,” says the report.
See the full report at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr32/en/
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1713416663labto1713416663ofdlr1713416663owedi1713416663sni@n1713416663osloh1713416663cin.l1713416663uap1713416663