March 21 –Premier League teams head the rankings of having the oldest players on average of all Europe’s leagues. Ten club from England’s top tier rank in the top 100 teams having on average fielded the oldest line ups in the domestic league matches played during the last six months.
The analysis by the CIES Football Observatory finds that Italian side Chievo Verona (average 32.1 years), heads the ranking. West Bromwich Albion is the highest ranked English side in fourth position with an average age of 30.03.
The stats support the English player development argument that there are no opportunities for young players in top tier English teams. Of the 21 teams from Europe’s Big 5 leagues that appear in the top 100 ranking, 10 are from the Premier League.
Looking at the current clubs topping the tables in Europe’s Big 5 leagues, both Juventus (average age 29.5) and Bayern Munich (28.14) are ranked in the top 100 – at 13th and 59th respectively.
The CIES Football Observatory also has a ranking of the top 100 clubs by youngest average across the 31 UEFA member associations. “The most represented country is the Netherlands (12 clubs), followed by Croatia (8), Germany and Slovakia (7 teams each). No English Premier League team is in the top 100 positions. The youngest team overall is the Slovakian side Senica (22.2 years),” say the CIES.
Source: CIES Football Observatory
For a full ranking see the CIES Digital Atlas at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/atlas/en/
To view the top 100 clubs ranked by the youngest average age go to http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/rk/young/en/
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