CELTIC are the pass kings of world football according to new data released.

According to the CIES Football Observatory, Ange Postecoglou’s side passed the ball on average some 735 times from their first 13 Premiership matches this season.

That is the biggest figure from all 654 teams analysed across 40 top leagues around the globe.

English champions Manchester City are second (692), followed by Shakhtar Donetsk (682.1),  Ajax (681.9), Bayern Munich (672.3) and PSG (667.4).

At the other end of the scale, Livingston made the least passes of all the clubs examined and they are joined by Motherwell (322.9) and Dundee (343.8.) in the bottom ten.

Scottish champions Rangers are 30th on the list, making on average 587.7 passes in their games.

The data also analysed how far the ball travelled on average in each game and calculated an average for the length of each pass.

Unsurprisingly, Celtic also came out on top for the distance their passes travelled in game, with an average of 12.8km per match, although came 22nd for the length of each pass (17.5km).

The stats show that Livingston are long ball merchants of the world game, with their passes being 24.4 metres on average, travelling 7.7km in a game.

Birmingham City are only slightly better off at 23.4 metres, with Motherwell next at 23.2 metres.

Club/Passes Metres/pass Km/match

Celtic 735 17.5 12.8

Rangers 587.7 17.8 10.5

Aberdeen 497.2 20.1 10

Hearts 488.6 20.4 10

Hibs 447.8 20.9 9.4

St Mirren 414.3 21.9 9.1

Dundee United413.5 20.9 8.7

St Johnstone 372.7 21.6 8

Ross County 358.8 21.3 7.7

Dundee 343.8 22.7 7.8

Motherwell 322.9 23.2 7.5

Livingston 315.8 24.4 7.7