Issue number 349 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks teams from 72 top divisions worldwide according to the average age of line-ups fielded in the current season and the percentage of minutes played by footballers who did not yet celebrate their 21st birthday. Monaco played so far with the youngest line-ups in the five major European leagues (24.3 years), while Bayer Leverkusen fielded U21 players for the highest percentage of minutes (24%).

www.football-observatory.com
Contact us

Editors:
Raffaele Poli
Roger Besson
Loïc Ravenel
Thomas Gonzalez

With 23% of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers, Barcelona ranks second in the big-5 ahead of four French Ligue 1 teams (Nice, Rennes, Marseille and Reims). Arsenal fielded so far the youngest line-ups in the English Premier League (25.0 years), while Spezia did so in the Italian Serie A (24.8 years) and Real Sociedad in the Spanish Liga (25.5 years). At the opposite end for each big-5 league are Lazio (30.3), Elche (29.9), Burnley (29.3), Bochum (28.7) and Clermont Foot (28.0).

The Latvian side FK Metta fielded the youngest line-ups overall (20.2 years on average) and the Armenians of BKMA Yerevan top the table for the highest percentage of domestic league minutes played by U21 footballers (79%). On the contrary, 89 of the 1’041 teams surveyed did not field any U21 player, among which Wolfsburg, Newcastle United, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, West Ham United, Rangers FC, Trabzonspor, Mamelodi Sundowns, Columbus Crew and Al Hilal SFC.

Average age on the pitch

Season 2021/22, top division domestic league matches until 23/09, 72 countries worldwide

Age
 
Club
League
U21 (% minutes)
Matchs
24.31
AS Monaco
FRA
14.2%
7
24.64
Bayer Leverkusen
GER
23.5%
5
24.74
AS St-Etienne
FRA
12.5%
7
24.75
Stade Brestois
FRA
4.7%
7
24.80
Spezia Calcio
ITA
5.6%
5
24.81
Olympique Marseille
FRA
15.5%
6
24.86
Empoli FC
ITA
10.0%
5
24.88
Stade de Reims
FRA
15.1%
7
24.94
OGC Nice
FRA
18.7%
6
24.94
VfB Stuttgart
GER
11.8%
5
25.01
Arsenal FC
ENG
11.0%
5
25.13
Milan AC
ITA
0.4%
5
25.18
Stade Rennais
FRA
17.3%
7
25.32
RB Leipzig
GER
13.2%
5
25.39
FC Metz
FRA
12.6%
7
25.42
Brentford FC
ENG
0.3%
5
25.50
Real Sociedad
ESP
5.4%
5
25.53
Valencia CF
ESP
11.8%
6
25.65
Borussia Dortmund
GER
13.3%
5
25.69
Torino FC
ITA
11.0%
4