Top 5: Toulouse FC and OGC Nice, the two clubs with the youngest playing squads in 2016-17 (CIES)

Toulouse FC (Ligue 1) are the club with players - who have played at least one match in 2016-17 - with the lowest average player age in the European Top 5 leagues, according to the weekly newsletter of the CIES Football Observatory, published on 21/11/2016.

With an average age of 23.44, Toulouse FC are the only team with an average age under 24 years old. Toulouse beat out another French club: OGC Nice (24.31 years). Following the two French clubs are three Bundesliga clubs: Bayer 04 Leverkusen (3^rd, 24.33 years), RB Leipzig (4^th, 24.60 years), and SC Freiburg (5^th, 24.67 years).

The 11 youngest average playing squads all are clubs in Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga. AC Milan (Serie A TIM, 12^th at 25.37 years) is the first team which is neither French nor German. In the Top 20, nine clubs are in the Bundesliga.

• The CIES Centre international d’étude du sport, (International Centre for Sports Studies) is based in Neuchâtel (SUI). It develops research, training and consulting services to sports institutions, mainly in… conducted a study of the average age of players in 26 European…