Individual leaders within each criteria are listed for every country, including the tallest and shortest teams, the oldest and youngest teams, the number of players utilised within the first team squad - which includes a breakdown of home-trained players and those recruited from overseas, plus the leading young players who have made the most first team league appearances.

As part of Scout7's partnership with the PFPO, Scout7 clients can purchase a hard copy of the Demographic Study at a discounted rate and as the Observatory's Raffaele Poli explains, the report can provide useful information for further analysis within professional scouting departments.
"We are confident that the information in this report will help recruitment staff at clubs draw parallels to their current squad with teams both domestically and overseas," says Poli.

"In doing so, they can potentially establish recruitment markets which have a number of players affiliated to successful teams possessing the key physical traits they are looking for in their own new recruits.

"Whilst a number of the findings confirm what many people have always suspected relating to successful teams having greater stability in the major leagues, our detailed study across the whole of Europe has identified new and interesting perspectives on the game's demographics.

"For example, it appears that a large number of squads in the former communist states possess very young squads, whilst four countries along the Mediterranean have the oldest.

"When comparing migration, it appears that the age of the first move abroad by players in certain Eastern European countries is relatively high, which suggests that a player from the region may struggle to settle overseas. In contrast, African players tend to migrate to countries such as France and Belgium whilst still teenagers.

"We have also identified trends which will make interesting reading for National Federations too, because it appears that a highly disproportionate number of players born in the first quarter of the calendar year are more likely to succeed professionally compared to those born at the end of the year.

"This may be down to the fact that typically, Federations select their youth teams based on the year of birth, which means a player born at the start of a year may be more physically developed than one 10 months younger. Therefore putting this into context, it adds a whole new perspective on those players who breakthrough at international level at a relatively young age, which should be of interest to various technical committees around the world."

If you would be interested in purchasing a copy of the Demographic Study of Footballers in Europe, please contact the Scout7 Head Office via email at info@scout7.com.