Stats released on quickest Champions League players and some very interesting speed merchants

Who would you say are the quickest Champions League players?

Well, you will find the answers below.

New analysis has been published looking at the clubs still competing this 2025/26 season.

The eight clubs who have automatically qualified for the last 16, plus the 16 clubs in the play-offs.

So this study concentrating on the Champions League players from these 24 clubs.

The study comes from the CIES Football Observatory using Gradient data on running speeds of players.

The analysis is for the highest top speed (km/h) clocked by each player and the report taking five areas of the pitch/positions separately. The quickest in each position below.

Champions League 2025/26, league stage, teams still in contention (as at 17 February 2926)

Central Midfielders (all measurement km/h)

34.82 Archie Gray (Spurs)

34.55 Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund)

33.64 Lucas Bergvall (Spurs)

33.24 Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United)

(16th place in list of fastest central midfielders is Joe Willock 32.36)

Wingers/Wide Midfielders

37.92 Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)

36.65 Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United)

35.93 Carlos Forbs (Club Brugge)

35.87 Emmanuel Addai (Qarabag FK)

35.48 Harvey Barnes (Newcastle United)

Central defenders

35.80 Abdukodir Khusanov (Man City)

35.11 Micky van de Ven (Spurs)

(Former NUFC defender Lloyd Kelly (now Juventus) is ninth fastest centre-back at 33.75)

(Malick Thiaw is seventeenth fastest central defender at 33.35)

Full-backs/Wing-backs

36.40 Achraf Hakimi (PSG)

Centre-forwards

35.67 Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

As you can see, Newcastle United players feature prominently.

Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga are not just the two quickest wingers in the Champions League, they are also the fasted two of all the players at the 24 clubs.

Whilst Harvey Barnes is fifth quickest of the Champions League wingers. I wouldn’t be surprised if his top speed was measured when he scored against Benfica, from that brilliant Nick Pope assist.

Not so sure about Sandro Tonali only fourth fastest of all the Champions League central midfielders. Certainly struggle to believe that when he is at peak fitness, that he’s slower than the Spurs pair Gray and Bergvall.