The best signings of the Danish Superliga in 2019/20 – data analysis

The Danish Football Association (DBU) seems to have received the green light to continue the Superliga competition by the end of May. This could be a big boost to the teams as the attention switches to them in the Scandinavian region as Denmark will be the second nation after Germany which restarts the football life in Europe. As 24 rounds were completed before the league cancellation, the fans could already see enough action to decide whether their clubs could live up to the expectations.

Denmark has always served as a great stepping stone for preparing players to enter into one of the top leagues. The most successful clubs have established excellent youth academies and scouting networks, keeping a constant turnover in their squad for a regular profit. In this data analysis, we will examine how the summer transfers shaped the league and which players could adapt to Denmark early.

Around the world

To make the analysis more interesting, we took into account only those who arrived in the country from abroad and featured in the first team. Danish players who came back to the league were also counted to compare the various transfer policy each club practices. First of all, we were curious about the overall turnover that happens in the league on a yearly basis. In other words, what percentage of players are replaced by newcomers in a transfer window? This number was incredible as over 14% of the athletes who stepped onto the pitch during the season arrived in the summer. This means that in circa seven seasons the entire player pool is replaced in Denmark which presents a major challenge to coaches and scouts.

We then moved onto the countries to see whether there is a certain preference when selecting transfer targets. The map represents how open the Superliga stands and how widespread the scouting network is for most clubs. It is important to notice that the dot placements represent the nationality of the players while the size shows how many of them came into the league.

Breaking down the numbers to the level of each club, we can get an overall picture of the transfer market of last year. The partnership of Nordsjaelland and the Right to Dream academy brings the brightest talents from Africa. Meanwhile, Midtjylland prefer to look around in the Brazilian market first and Aarhus like to try their chances in Australia.

Minutes that count

Usually for new signings, the first year is not a make or break scenario. However, if one can adapt in the beginning to the characteristics of the league then he can easily cement his place in the starting eleven. To measure this effectively, we first took the collective minutes in each team. To see even more details, we factored in the players’ age as well. The size of the dots represents their respective playing time. It is interesting to notice how currently third Aarhus GF utilise their new youngsters or the instant effect taken on FC Copenhagen. Overall, the average age of these transfers (24.5) was slightly below the current league average (25.1) which could be seen as a conscious transfer plan, additional to the local youth development.