According to the latest weekly letter published Wednesday by the CIES Football Observatory, FC Barcelona confirms in 2025 its position as a world reference in terms of training. Over the past calendar year, 40 players who spent at least three seasons at La Masia between the ages of 15 and 21 were fielded by clubs in the five major European championships, including ten in the Blaugrana jersey, an unprecedented total. The Catalan club is ahead of Real Madrid (35 players trained), while two French clubs are at the top of the ranking. Paris Saint-Germain occupies third place with 31 players from its center, a stable performance over time since it is also verified over periods of five and ten years. Rennes follows closely with 29 players trained, illustrating remarkable progress.
As a reminder, the Breton club was only eighth over the last five seasons. Rennes’ dynamic is also reflected in the cumulative playing time, higher than that of players trained at PSG over the last twelve months (22,599 minutes compared to 18,455). Behind this leading quartet are Ajax Amsterdam, Chelsea and Real Sociedad, while Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal share tenth place. The study also underlines the strong formative identity of certain clubs historically anchored locally such as FC Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Athletic Club are those which use the most players from their own academy. Two French teams stand out on this criterion, with Toulouse and Le Havre who each fielded eight players trained internally in 2025, proof of the vitality of their training centers.
