Skip to main content

Free article section

You are reading a Free article. Apply for a subscription to access all the valuable information on the website Sports Law & Taxation

Most youth-oriented clubs

The 472nd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks clubs in 58 leagues around the world according to the percentage of minutes by footballers who did yet turn 21 in domestic league matches played over the last three years.

Barcelona leads the European big-5 league table (22.6% of minutes by U21 players), while Ukrainian side Rukh Lviv are the most youth-oriented club in absolute terms (41.1%).

Denmark’s Nordsjælland (40.7% of minutes by U21s) and Uzbekistan’s Olympic (39.9%) complete the podium across the 58 leagues analysed, ahead of Slovakia’s MŠK Žilina and Austria’s RB Salzburg.

At Europe’s big-5 league level, Barcelona outranks the French of Olympique Lyonnais (20,7%).

Outside Europe, the Uruguayans of Defensor SC (23.9%) are ahead of Colombia’s Fortaleza CEIF (22.8%) and Envigado (22.5%).

The Post also presents the number of U21 footballers fielded, both in total or imported from abroad.

From the latter perspective, at the top three positions are Switzerland’s FC Basel (24 foreign U21 players), Austria’s RB Salzburg (22) and Denmark’s Nordsjælland (21).

Parma heads the rankings for the big-5 (16 players), while United Arab Emirates’ Al-Wasl FC tops the table among non-European clubs (13).

>>> Full data

>>> Demographic Atlas

About the CIES Football Observatory

The CIES Football Observatory is a research group created in 2005 within the Swiss-based Centre International d’Étude du Sport (CIES). It specialises in the statistical analysis of football, in particular in the areas of demographics, transfer values and performance (technical, tactical, physical). Click here for more information.

About the CIES

The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) is an independent study centre located in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It was created in 1995 as a joint venture between the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the University of Neuchâtel, the City and State of Neuchatel. Click here for more information. Click here for more information.

CIES – Centre International d’Étude du Sport

Avenue DuPeyrou 1, 2000 Neuchâtel
Switzerland
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone +41 32 718 39 00
Fax +41 32 718 39 01

 

 



Interesting article?

Take your own subscription to get easy online access to all valuable articles of Sports Law & Taxation