The 541st CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the clubs currently competing in 50 top divisions worldwide where footballers who had not yet turned 21 have played the highest percentage of minutes in domestic league matches over the last five years. Denmark’s FC Nordsjælland top the list with no less than 44.7% of minutes by U21s.
The Slovakian side MŠK Žilina (35.3%) and the Austrian side RB Salzburg (35.0%) complete the podium. The top three clubs outside Europe are Uruguay’s SC Defensor (25.4%), Colombia’s Fortaleza CEIF (24.1%) and Venezuela’s Caracas FC (21.5%). Among current big-5 league clubs, Barcelona (20.7%) leads the way ahead of Strasbourg (18.6%) and Sunderland (18.5%).
Across all 50 leagues studied, Nordsjælland is also the club that fielded the highest number of players who had not yet turned 21 at the time of at least one match played (63). The Danish club is ahead of the Dutch side Volendam (60). At the other end of the scale, in the bottom two places, are the Italians of Napoli (2) and the Chinese side Tianjin Jinmen (3).
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Percentage of minutes played by U21 players, last five years
Domestic league matches since 01/01/2021