Premier League
Bundesliga
Published on Jun, 12 2024
The inaugural Golazo 100 is now set and Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe is the first-ever winner of this brand new ranking. You have heard about how the players were selected and those who just missed out but now it is time to delve into the numbers generated by the finalized standings and what they tell us about the current lay of the land in European soccer. Unsurprisingly, the Premier League is dominant, but what are the more unexpected numbers to have come out of this?
Premier League
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the EPL comes out on top of the pile in terms of the sheer number of players contributed towards the Golazo 100 with 33 on the list which gives the Premier League a 33% share of the list. Five of the top 10 are England-based so one in every two players plays for an EPL club and aside from Mohamed Salah, four of those five have been supplied by defending champions Manchester City.
La Liga
It might not have been the best year for Spanish soccer in Europe but it was saved by Real Madrid's habitual dominance of the UEFA Champions League. La Liga did its best to compete with the Premier League in terms of players contributed towards this list but fell eight short with an overall total of 25 players on the Golazo 100 for a 25% share. Unlike the EPL, though, only two Spain-based talents made the top 10 with one of those being an England international and both being Real players.
Serie A
Europe's most improved league comes in third in terms of its contribution towards the Golazo 100 but Calcio's representation is fascinating within itself. Of the 17 players who made the cut only one made the top 10 -- Inter's Lautaro Martinez -- although three made the top 30 but only three of the 17 overall are actually Italian. The contributions per club are fairly spread out and we will get to that shortly but the diluted domestic talent and fairly balanced distribution of the strongest players partly tells the tale of Serie A's renaissance in the UEFA coefficient this past 12 months or so.
Bundesliga
Germany narrowly came fourth behind Italy but both earned extra UEFA coefficient spots to boost their continental involvement for this coming season. Of the Golazo 100, there are 15 Bundesliga-based players for a 15% share which is three times that of Ligue 1 which trails as fifth of the big five leagues. However, only one Germany-based player made the top 10 with three in the top 20 and five in the top 40 overall. Given the German topflight's historical penchant for being a strongly domestic dominated competition, it is intriguing to see that only six of the Bundesliga's 15 players are actually Germany internationals.
Ligue 1
Down in fifth and some way behind the other four is the league and country of contradictions which is France. Ligue 1 is the least represented of the top five competitions with just five players and is the most dominated by one single club through Paris Saint-Germain yet they provided the name which tops them all with Mbappe -- even if he is leaving for Madrid. Although the overall share of just 5% does illustrate that Le Championnat has work to do to bridge that gap, it raises another fascinating debate as French soccer has provided 10% of all players in this Golazo 100 which hints at French soccer's undeniable strength in developing talent and then exporting it.
French touch
France's 10 players on the Golazo 100 is a bit deceptive because when you take it at face value it is one short of England's 11%. However, if you dig a little deeper, Stuttgart's France-born and raised Serhou Guirassy should count. City's Bernardo Silva, Napoli's Osimhen, Milan's Rafael Leao and Mike Maignan, Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes, Arsenal's Gabriel, Al-Ittihad's Karim Benzema and Barcelona's Raphinha as well as RB Leipzig pair Xavi Simons and Lois Openda have also seen Ligue 1 play a pivotal role in their development into the star names that they are today. Adding a further wrinkle, Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann is one of Les Bleus' most recognizable star names yet has never actually played soccer domestically at professional level in France with his club career exclusively played in Spain -- so far. The same goes for Milan's Theo Hernandez who grew up in Spain and moved to Italy. Based on that, you could argue for or against French talent meriting being level with England on 11% -- if not one above on 12% -- which would make it the strongest soccer nation in talent development terms in this Golazo 100. Brazil were the only other contenders with nine and one of those was provided via Ligue 1 -- PSG's captain Marquinhos.
Clubs
City
Pep Guardiola's men provided Erling Haaland, Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden at the top end of the Golazo 100 with the Norwegian superstar the highest ranked of that quartet in fourth place. It is outside those four players, though, that City's influence becomes clear with 12 players on the list overall which is 12% of all candidates just from one club -- a full starting XI plus one substitute of truly elite soccer talent.
Real
Vincius Junior and Jude Bellingham cracked the top 10 with the Brazil international all the way up in second behind future teammate Mbappe. The reigning La Liga champions have 10 players on the list overall -- so two fewer than City -- but you could argue that their latest signing pushes them to within one of that total and an 11% share of the list. The Frenchman is joining Real and will mean that Carlo Ancelotti has Golazo 100's top three available to him this coming season -- unreal depth in talent yet totally in line with who the Spanish giants are. Interestingly, though, Barcelona have as many players (10) as their bitter rivals in this Golazo 100.
Milan clubs
Specific to the top two in Italy this past year of Inter and Milan, the Nerazzurri have six to the Rossoneri's four which is 10 of 17 players overall in terms of Italian soccer's representation on this list. The Milan contingent also have the only USMNT player to make the top 100 in Christian Pulisic while Napoli's star duo Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cracked the top 50 despite a dreadful attempt at a Serie A title defense this past term in Naples.
Bayern
Not only is the Bundesliga densely populated with homegrown talent, it is also dominated -- until very recently -- by one single club: Bayern Munich. That has changed on the field thanks to Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen but the Bavarians still edge Die Werkself with six Bayern players to Leverkusen's five on this list. RB Leipzig got a couple of top talents in as did surprise package VfB Stuttgart but beaten Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund only had an evergreen Mats Hummels in there which underlines just how against the odds that UCL run to Wembley really was -- and they really had their moments to potentially win it too.
PSG
PSG exclusively dominate Ligue 1's offering towards this Golazo 100 and true to Le Championnat and French soccer's position in Europe -- it is divisive. PSG and France have provided chart topper Mbappe of which there is no debate, but no other Parisien teammate gets anywhere near the top 50 which hints at the challenge that both the French champions and its topflight now face: how to follow Mbappe and who to rely on? Warren Zaire-Emery narrowly missed the cut and is a strong hope while Bradley Barcola will undoubtedly feature in future lists. However, based on this as an indicator, Ousmane Dembele could crack the top 50 if he builds on a strong first season in Paris while Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos and Vitinha could be upwardly mobile -- especially the Portuguese.
The also rans
Funnily enough, PSG would have had extra representation had Neymar and Lionel Messi not left one year ago as Luis Enrique arrived at Parc des Princes. The Brazilian and former France international and Olympique Lyonnais product Karim Benzema are part of a three-man contingent with veteran superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia while the legendary Argentina international is Major League Soccer's only representative in the Golazo 100 after his move to Inter Miami. The only outlier in Europe is Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres who could find himself in one of the top five leagues very soon and even back in England where much of the 26-year-old Sweden international's career has been played to date.
Golazo 100 full list
Be sure to tune into Golazo Network, including Morning Footy to start your day with a breakdown of each batch of top players released every day. And, of course, make sure to check out the full breakdown and analysis of who was ranked where and why
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