Only five leagues more valuable worldwide
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In the fourth market value update of the 2025/26 season, the professionals in the Championship received new market values. Behind the top five leagues, the English lower house is the world’s most valuable league, ahead of the Eredivisie or the Portuguese League. Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City achieved promotion to the Premier League, all of which received a market value increase. With ex-Nuremberg player Caspar Jander, a German is also one of the big winners, although he curiously missed promotion with FC Southampton.
Jander, who moved from 1. FC Nürnberg to Southampton for 12 million euros before the season, immediately became a regular player and impressed with good performances. In 36 games he scored two goals and one assist. After the Saints finished fourth in the regular season, Jander and his team reached the playoff final against Hull City after a win against Middlesbrough. Because the club allowed an opponent’s training session to be filmed without permission, he was excluded from the game and Middlesbrough moved up. Hull won promotion and Southampton remained in the Championship. Nevertheless, Jander received a significant increase and climbed from 12 million to 18 million euros – there was a higher appreciation for only three professionals. This makes him one of the 13 most valuable players in the league.
In addition to Jander, five other Germans play in the championship. His teammate Joshua Quarshie and Watford’s Kwadwo Baah confirm their market values of €4m and €3m respectively. The three others earn their money at Birmingham City, who finished the season in tenth place. Kai Wagner receives a loss of 800,000 to 2.2 million euros, for Phil Neumann and Marvin Ducksch it goes down by 500,000 euros to 2.5 million and 1.5 million euros respectively.
With Jander & Ducksch German Legionnaires in the Championship /championship/gastarbeiterdetail/competition/GB2?season_id=2025&land_id=40
Millwall’s Azees the biggest winner – Hackney remain most valuable professional
Only Millwall duo Femi Azeez and Tristan Crama and Swansea’s Žan Vipotnik have a bigger upgrade than Jander. For Crama and Vipotnik it goes from 7 million to 12 million and 22 million euros, respectively. Azeez, who contributed 19 goals in 35 games, tripled his market value to 15 million euros. “We were probably a little too cautious with Azeez and had previously rated him a little too low. But the form in which he finished the season confirmed his quality and with strong interest expected this summer – even from Premier League teams – he needed a significant increase in value,” explains Benjamin Littlemore, England expert at Transfermarkt. Millwall lost the semi-final of the playoffs against eventual promoted team Hull.
Middlesbrough six Hayden Hackney, meanwhile, cements his status as the Championship’s most valuable player. For the 23-year-old it goes from 28 million to 32 million euros, even though his club missed out on promotion. “He is a midfielder who has everything: he is a fantastic passer, can weave past opponents and is also a goal threat,” explains Littlemore. “As Middlesbrough didn’t get promoted I can’t imagine they can keep him any longer. Brighton, Everton, Manchester United, Tottenham and Ipswich have all expressed interest and I expect he will move for €32m or more.” Vipotnik and Coventry right-back Milan van Ewijk take second place with 22 million euros each.
The biggest losers from the update include numerous professionals from Leicester City, who were relegated from the Premier League to League One within a year. Abdul Fatawu gets the biggest devaluation, falling from 24 million to 20 million euros and thus losing his status as the most valuable professional after Hackney. His teammates Caleb Okoli (12 million to 9 million), Victor Kristiansen (12 to 9), Stephy Mavididi (8 to 5) and Oliver Skipp (7 to 4) are down by 3 million euros. Sindre Walle Egeli (18 to 15) from champions Coventry and Millwall’s Tom Watson (10 to 7) also received a 3 million minus.
Coventry and Millwall are making significant gains – a huge loss for Leicester
Leicester’s horror season not only ends with relegation to League One, but also with by far the biggest loss of all clubs. Before the update, the Foxes had the fourth most valuable squad at 145 million euros, after a devaluation of 24.4 million euros they are in sixth place. The biggest increase was recorded by champions Coventry, which increased by 32.5 million to 226 million euros. The Championship’s most valuable squad will compete in the Premier League next season. Behind them is Millwall, which surprisingly made it into the playoffs and was rewarded with an increase of 22.6 million to 105 million euros.
This is how transfer market market values work
The transfer market market values are created taking into account various pricing models as well as a strong involvement of the transfer market community, which deals with the values in detailed discussions. The transfer market market values cannot generally be equated with the transfer fees actually paid.
The goal is not to predict a price, but rather an expected value. When determining the market value, both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant to a certain extent. Examples of this are listed here. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for detailed market value definition).
