The explosion of football team values in Europe

It's almost back to school for the European football leagues and the players of the Premier League and Ligue 1 will be among the first to find their way to the grounds this weekend. Although the transfer window is not yet over in most leagues and player movement is still expected between clubs, one thing is already certain: the total value of the teams has increased again since last season.

Our graph, based on Transfermarkt data, shows the explosion of the market value of the players of the five major European leagues over the last ten years. Since 2008, the total value of footballers in the five leagues has more than doubled to reach a provisional total of €23.5 billion at the start of the 2018-19 season. This rise has accelerated in recent years, mainly due to the widespread increase in TV rights and marketing contracts.

France's Ligue 1 has seen the total value of its players double between 2008 and 2018 but remains far behind the Premier League. The English league remains unquestionably the most expensive league on the transfer market, enjoying a TV rights contract twice as valuable as Ligue 1 and being helped by the exchange rate of the pound.