Figure 2
The bar graph compares the minutes played per season by the top 50 most-utilized players in the top 5 European leagues from the 1975/76 season to the 2023/24 season. The leagues include the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1. The graph features horizontal bars representing each season, with the x-axis labeled 'Minutes Played' ranging from 0 to 4,000 minutes. The y-axis lists the seasons from 1975/76 to 2023/24. The bars show a general trend of increasing minutes played over the years, with some fluctuations. The color scheme is uniform, using blue for all bars. All values are approximated.Minutes played per season – Top 5 Leagues. Note: The figure shows the evolution of seasonal playing time for the 50 most-utilized players in the Top 5 European leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1). Minutes include domestic league matches only. Values are annual averages for each season between 1975/76 and 2023/24. Source: Authors' elaboration based on Transfermarkt data