The 540th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 clubs worldwide that have earned the most from the transfer of players from their youth academies* over the last ten years. The top three are Portugal’s SL Benfica (€589 million), Netherlands’ AFC Ajax (€454 million) and England’s Chelsea FC (€442 million).
The top 10 also includes two clubs from France’s Ligue 1 (Olympique Lyonnais and Monaco), another Portuguese club (Sporting CP), another English one (Manchester City), as well as teams from Spain (Real Madrid), Brazil (SE Palmeiras) and Germany (Bayer Leverkusen). In total, 19 associations are represented by at least one club in the top 100.
The Post also sets out the revenue generated over the last five years alone, with Chelsea FC (€366 million) topping the list, ahead of Manchester City (€318 million). This result reflects the growing emphasis on youth development also within the elite tier of English clubs, both in terms of developing players for the first team and reaping financial rewards.
* Training clubs are defined as the first ones where players spent at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. The figures shown include add-ons regardless of effective payment and sums earned from sell-ons.
Income earned from the transfer of club‑trained players over the last ten years
Since 01/07/2016, € million