Issue number 200 of the increasingly popular CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the clubs having trained the most footballers present on the 1st of October 2017 in 31 top division European leagues. At the top of the table is Ajax Amsterdam, while Real Madrid trained the most big-5 league players.

Following UEFA’s definition, training clubs are teams where players stayed for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. AFC Ajax trained 71 footballers currently active in the 31 European championships surveyed. This figure was 72 on the 1st of October 2016. The Dutch team outranks Dinamo Zagreb (67) and Partizan Belgrad (61).

As for 2016, Real Madrid tops the table for big-5 league players. Eight of the 41 footballers trained by the Spanish side still play at Real Madrid. The second and third teams having trained the most players currently active in the five major European championships are Barcelona (34) and Olympique Lyonnais (31).

Most productive training clubs (number of players)

Date of reference: 01/10/2017 / [In]: In the club

Editors : Raffaele Poli, Roger Besson and Loïc Ravenel

Contact : football.observatory@cies.ch