One would think one or two clubs in Norway and Sweden would make it onto the list of CIES Football Observatory, while Denmark has three clubs on the top 100 list: FC Nordsjælland, FC Midtjylland and FC Copenhagen.
As every year, the CIES Football Observatory has identified the clubs that have educated* the players currently active in 49 leagues around the world, in order to establish a ranking of the clubs with the best academies. The 518th weekly publication presents the top 100 according to an education index that takes into account the number of players educated, the level of the clubs they played for last year, and the official minutes played in the same period.
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As last year, Benfica is in first place with 93 educated players active in the 49 leagues analyzed, an average level of hiring clubs of 0.81 and 2,582 minutes played on average in official matches over the past year. Barcelona (76 players, average club level of 0.87 and 2,773 minutes) and River Plate (97 players, average level of 0.81 and 2,305 minutes) complete the podium for the clubs with the best academies.
The top 10 includes another Portuguese team (Sporting CP), another Spanish team (Real Madrid), two other Argentine clubs (Boca Juniors and Vélez Sarsfield), as well as Ajax from the Netherlands, Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia and Defensor from Uruguay. Thirty countries are represented with at least one team in the top 100, the most represented nations are Argentina (15 clubs) and Brazil (11 clubs).
*Education clubs are defined as the first teams the footballers have played for for at least three years between seasons from the age of 15 to the age of 21 (inclusive).
Here you have the entire top 100 list!
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