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Benfica world leader in player training

The 478th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks football clubs and academies worldwide according to their ability to train top-level players.

Portugal’s Benfica top the list, both for the number of footballers trained* playing in 49 top divisions around the world, and with respect to the training index, a metric that weights the numerical presence of players trained by their sporting level**.

On a global scale, Benfica (94 players trained for a training index of 103.7) are ahead of Argentina’s Boca Juniors (93; 102.2) and Barcelona (81; 98.6). The Catalans come out on top when only players currently active in the European big-5 are considered (46 players; 58.6), ahead of Real Madrid (34; 44.0) and Paris St-Germain (35; 39.5).

Regarding footballers playing in the 30 main European leagues, the best training index was measured for Ajax.

The players included in the sample had to be present on October 1st 2024 in the first team squad of clubs in the following 49 leagues and have played domestic league matches up to that date.

If this was not the case, they had to have played at adult level (not including B teams) in each of the two previous seasons. Second or third choice goalkeepers were considered in all cases.

>>> All rankings

* Training clubs are the first teams in which footballers have played for at least three years between the seasons of their 15th and 21st birthdays (inclusive).

** The sporting level of players is computed by considering all official game minutes played at senior level during the last year, weighted by the sporting coefficient of matches according to this methodology.

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).

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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.

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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

 

 



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