The 529th Weekly Post from the CIES Football Observatory presents the clubs having trained* the highest number of footballers who played in the big-5 during the current season. With no fewer than 40 players in the five major European leagues graduated from La Masia, Barcelona tops the rankings. Real Madrid (35 players) and Paris St-Germain (31 players) round up the podium.
Another French club, Stade Rennais, ranks fourth (29 players), ahead of the first team outside the big-5: AFC Ajax (27 players). The top 10 also includes Chelsea, Real Sociedad, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City. Argentina’s River Plate heads the table for non-European teams, ahead of Brazil’s Flamengo and Senegal’s Génération Foot.
The Post also presents the rankings for the current season in terms of minutes played (Real Madrid here first), as well as the standings for the last five and ten years. In both cases, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Paris St-Germain occupy the top three spots, confirming their status of the most productive clubs in training players for the big-5, ahead of Olympique Lyonnais.
* Training clubs are defined as the first teams where players remained for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.
For the latest global ranking (October 2025), see Weekly Post 518.
Number of trained players fielded in the big-5 leagues
Domestic league matches until 12/01/2026
Total number : big-5 players for the period considered per training club
For the club : players fielded by their training club in the big-5 for the period considered
Minutes : big-5 minutes for the period considered per training club