UEFA just published their eighth Club Licensing Benchmarking Report which analyses almost every aspect of the football business in Europe.

While its main focus is on UEFA countries and clubs, it also makes some comparisons with countries worldwide including Australia.

Overall, it reveals the A-League's average crowd of 13,048 in 2014/15 would have seen it ranked among the top ten leagues in Europe in terms of attendance.

Only the elite top level leagues in England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Netherlands, plus the English and German second tier leagues pulled in bigger crowds each week.

In Europe the crowd figures also revealed a direct link between success on the pitch and bigger crowds, with moving even just one position up the table bringing a 3% increase in fans.

In terms of the player market value though the A-League slipped far down the list, ranked only 64th worldwide, behind even Libya, Tunisia and South Africa.

The value of the MLS players in total was estimated at €299m - ranking 20th in the world - and China at €354m in 2014/15 ranked 16th with Brazil coming in at 8th with €867m valuation.

The  EPL was unsurprisingly number one in player valuations at €4.4billion, but even the Championship ranked 10th in the world with a collective worth of €750m.

Second was Spain with €3.25b and Italy's Serie A came in third with a €2.575b worth while Germany was 4th at €2.38b.

 The A-League also performed well in the top 50 most attended global sports events, with the average attendance earning it a 44th place in the overall scheme of things.

However the A-League was overshadowed locally by Aussie Rules, with the AFL coming 11th globally thanks to their 33,428 average crowd, ahead of the Big Bash League (14th with 29,433) and the Cricket World Cup in 27th slot with 20,743. The NRL ranked 37th.

Internationally, perhaps surprisingly, the biggest crowdpuller in the world in 2014/15 was rugby's Six Nations with an average crowd of 72,000, ahead of the NFL in the US (68,400) and the 2014 FIFA World Cup (53,592), with the Rugby World Cup coming in 4th (51,621).

The EPL ranked 10th (36,461) behind the Euros in 5th (46,481), US college sport in 6th (43,933), Bundesliga in 7th (43,300), the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 8th (41,938) and the UEFA Champions League in 9th (40,997).

The report also highlights the massive surge in Chinese ownership of European clubs in the last couple of years. Since 2014/15, nine of the ten Asian-bought UEFA clubs now have Chinese owners. In the A-League, Newcastle Jets have followed this trend with their new Chinese owner.
 
The A-League has one of the youngest average age of players at its clubs, with 25.5 years old in 2014/15 making it one of the lowest at the elite level outside of Europe.
 

Likewise, the A-League average age of head coach at 49.3 in 2014/15 compares well with other nations outside of Europe where most countries have clubs with bosses in their 50s.

Northern Ireland leads the way with an average of just 40.6, but Scotland is close behind with 43.5. The EPL average is 52, while Spain is 49.9, France is 51.0 – but the Bundesliga is just 46.7, just behind the Eredivisie at 46.6.

In 2014/15, A-League coaches had some of the safest jobs in the world outside of Europe, with just 30% of clubs changing boss. Only the USA (20%) and Korea (17%) had better figures beyond UEFA's borders.
 
At the other extreme, a staggering 90% of Brazil's coaches lost their jobs or moved during the season, but Algeria topped that with 94%...and EVERY Costa Rican club changed coach!
 
In Italy two-thirds of clubs saw a new face in charge that season, Germany had 56% turnover, La Liga 50%, EPL 40% and France 25%.
 
Finally in terms of visa players, Australia comes in almost bang on the average at 25.6 years old and the percentage of foreign players at 26.6%, challenging the perception that it is a retirement home for overseas players.
 
England and Italy had the highest percentage of import players AND older players among the big leagues, with the EPL leading the way by a big margin.