Yamal tops most valuable players list 🌍, Vini out of top 30

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OneFootball

·8 January 2026

Yamal tops most valuable players list 🌍, Vini out of top 30

Lamine Yamal, Barcelona's jewel, leads the list of the most valuable players on the planet, according to the latest study by the CIES Football Observatory, released this Thursday (8).

At just 18 years old, the Spaniard reached a record valuation of 343 million euros – about R$ 2.16 billion –, surpassing stars like Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé.

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Among Brazilians, Estêvão from Chelsea is the most valuable, followed by João Pedro, his buddy at the Blues, and Savinho from Manchester City.

Vinícius Júnior out of the Top 30

The big surprise for Brazil is the drop of Vini Jr. The Real Madrid star appears only in 38th position, valued at 90.3 million euros (R$ 568.8 million), below players like Dominik Szoboszlai from Liverpool (37th), Jamal Musiala from Bayern (36th), and Kvaratskhelia from PSG (35th).

The study suggests that recent performance and the lack of contract renewal weighed on the devaluation.

On the rise at Chelsea, Estevão is the best Brazilian in the study, followed by João Pedro, also from the Blues, and Savinho from Manchester City.

The Brazilian jewel was valued at 118.9 million euros (R$ 747.8 million), with João Pedro valued at 100.5 million euros (R$ 632.1), and Savinho at 91.5 million euros (R$ 576.4 million).

Highlights

At the top of the list in January last year, Jude Bellingham is now in fourth place (153 million euros).

The Englishman from Real Madrid is ahead of the Frenchman Michael Olise from Bayern Munich (137 million euros), and Liverpool's new signing, Florian Wirtz (136 million euros).

The top 10 also includes two players from Paris St-Germain, Désiré Doué and João Neves, another member of Real Madrid, Arda Güler, and another player from FC Barcelona: Pedri González.

Outside the five major European leagues, Vitor Roque from Palmeiras is the absolute leader, valued at 85 million euros, surpassing prospects like Samu Aghehowa from FC Porto (76 million euros), and Geovany Quenda from Sporting CP (70 million euros), who has already been signed by Chelsea.

Gianluigi Donnarumma positions himself as the most valuable goalkeeper, valued at 81 million euros, followed by Pau Cubarsí as the most valuable central defender (110 million euros) and Nico O'Reilly as the most expensive full-back (90 million euros).

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What is the CIES?

The CIES Football Observatory is a research group based in Switzerland, founded in 2005 as a partnership between FIFA, the University of Neuchâtel, and the city of Neuchâtel.

They are considered the "scientific voice" of the football market, as they use complex mathematical models to analyze football.

This ranking is a semi-annual list of the 100 most valuable players in the world. It does not only reflect who plays better but rather the estimated market value (transfer price) for each athlete if they were sold today.

How do they calculate these values?

Unlike websites like Transfermarkt, which rely heavily on market perception and expert opinions, the CIES uses an econometric algorithm that analyzes variables such as:

Age: Younger players (like Lamine Yamal, 18 years old) are worth much more because they have years of career ahead.
Contract duration: The longer the contract with the current club, the more expensive the player is (as the buying club needs to pay a higher fee).
Technical performance: Goals, assists, minutes played, and the level of competitiveness of the league.
International status: Participation and performance in national team call-ups.
Economic power of the club: The financial strength of the selling club and the likely profile of the buying clubs.
Market inflation: The algorithm adjusts prices according to how heated the football market is.

Why is Lamine Yamal worth so much?

The astronomical value of Yamal in the 2026 ranking, 343 million euros, around R$ 2.16 billion, is due to a "perfect storm" of factors:

Youth: He is only 18 years old and already a global protagonist.
Decisive: The algorithm rewarded his consistency at Barcelona and his impact on the Spanish National Team.
Protected contract: Barcelona protects him with long contracts, which inflates his transfer value.
Resale potential: For the algorithm, buying Yamal today is an investment for the coming years.

What can you do with R$ 2.16 billion?

To give you an idea of the size of Lamine Yamal's market value:

Brazilian clubs: This value is greater than the combined market valuation of almost all players from Flamengo and Palmeiras together (the most expensive squads in Brazil).
Prizes: It is equivalent to about 4 Mega da Virada prizes (considering an average of R$ 500 million per prize).
Luxury fleet: You could buy around 700 units of the Ferrari SF90 Stradale (valued at R$ 3 million each).
Stadiums: It is almost double the construction cost of Arena MRV (Atlético-MG's stadium), which cost around R$ 1.1 billion.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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