The 540th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 clubs worldwide that have earned the most from the transfer of players from their youth academies* over the last ten years. The top three are Portugal’s SL Benfica (€589 million), Netherlands’ AFC Ajax (€454 million) and England’s Chelsea FC (€442 million).

The top 10 also includes two clubs from France’s Ligue 1 (Olympique Lyonnais and Monaco), another Portuguese club (Sporting CP), another English one (Manchester City), as well as teams from Spain (Real Madrid), Brazil (SE Palmeiras) and Germany (Bayer Leverkusen). In total, 19 associations are represented by at least one club in the top 100.

The Post also sets out the revenue generated over the last five years alone, with Chelsea FC (€366 million) topping the list, ahead of Manchester City (€318 million). This result reflects the growing emphasis on youth development also within the elite tier of English clubs, both in terms of developing players for the first team and reaping financial rewards.

* Training clubs are defined as the first ones where players spent at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. The figures shown include add-ons regardless of effective payment and sums earned from sell-ons.

>>> Full data

Dear subscribers,

A big thank you to everyone who has already completed our online questionnaire on men’s professional football !

We are sending this message to remind those who have not yet responded, in order to maximise the sample size of respondents. Thank you for helping us to better understand the measures you believe are necessary to improve football.

The results of the survey, which is completely anonymous, will be published in the form of a freely accessible report, ahead of the next World Cup. We will of course keep you informed. Please take three minutes at most to complete this questionnaire, and long live football !

>>> TAKE PART

The CIES Football Observatory team

The 539th Weekly Post presents the hundred U23 players not yet under contract with one of the ten most powerful clubs worldwide* with the top estimated transfer value according to the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model. Juventus’s Turkish young star Kenan Yildiz is well ahead of the rest. His transfer could be worth up to €133 million (including add-ons and for 100% of transfer rights).

Inter Milan’s Italian Pio Esposito (€95 million) and RB Leipzig’s Ivorian Yan Diomandé (€84 million) round off the top three. The top five also includes Bayer Leverkusen’s Cameroonian Christian Kofane (€81 million) and Porto’s Danish midfielder Victor Froholdt (€80 million). All these players have contracts running until at least 2029, which strengthens the negotiating power of their respective clubs.

Twelve domestic competitions are represented in the top 100, with the English Premier League at the top (25 players), and the following top three: Paraguay’s Diégo Gómez (Brighton & Hove), Netherlands’ Xavi Simons (Tottenham) and France’s Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth). Behind Froholdt, the highest-rated players outside the big-5 are Vítor Roque (Palmeiras) and two other FC Porto’s footballers: Samu Aghehowa and Rodrigo Mora.

>>> Top 100

>>> Top valued player per club in 70 leagues

>>> New Prospect Sheet: Oskar Pietuszewski

* In alphabetical order : Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid.

Dear subscriber and football passionate,

The CIES Football Observatory mission is to advance the frontiers of knowledge for the balanced development of football worldwide. With this in mind, we have drawn up a questionnaire to find out your views on a range of current issues relating to men’s professional club football.

Your responses will help us identify the measures you believe needed to ensure that football continues developing in a positive direction. The results of the survey, which is completely anonymous, will be published in the form of a freely accessible report, ahead of the next World Cup. We will of course keep you informed !

Please take three minutes at most to complete this questionnaire, and long live football !

>>> TAKE PART

The CIES Football Observatory team

The 538th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the global ranking of clubs whose squad management is most focused on the long term, based on an index combining four indicators : the number of players used in league matches over the last three years (the lower the better), the average stay of current players in the first team squad, the average remaining contract length of those same players, and their average age at the time of signing (the lower the better)*.

Real Madrid recorded the highest score, reflecting a strategy of signing young players and retaining them over the long term. The Spanish side are ahead of Brentford, who can still dream of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time, and the Basque side Athletic Club, whose season has been rather disappointing so far but who remain well-equipped to quickly return to winning ways. Two teams from the MLS compete the top 5 : Seattle Sounders and Philadelphia Union.

Four other teams not belonging to the Europe’s big-5 feature in the top twenty : Shakhtar Donetsk, Club Brugge, AZ Alkmaar and FK Zenit. Sixty-first overall, Palmeiras is the top ranked South American club. For each indicator, the following clubs have the best values : Seattle Sounders (stay), SJK Seinäjoki (recruitment age), Chelsea FC (contract duration), as well as Dynamo Kyiv and Club Libertad (non-academy players use).

* For players used, we have considered the last three years for non-calendar year leagues, and the seasons from 2023 to 2025 for the others, not including players from the club academy. The latter were also excluded from the calculation of the average age at recruitment, as well as from that of the average stay for those under 22. For remaining contract length, we have assigned a duration of one year where information was missing and current season end for players on loan.

>>> Full data

The 537th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 teams in the world with the highest aggregate transfer value of players owned, estimated according to our statistical model. Chelsea tops the ranking with a total of €1,732 million spread across 54 players, ahead of Manchester City (€1,608 million, 47 players) and Real Madrid (€1,541 million, 36 players).

Chelsea is also the team listed with the best distribution of values among players under contract, with the highest-valued footballer, Brazilian Estevão (€123 million), representing only 7.1% of the total. By way of comparison, this percentage is 25.3% for the fourth club with the highest aggregate value, Barcelona (€1,389 million, of which €352 million for Lamine Yamal).

The following clubs are ranked first in the other major regions or countries: Paris Saint-Germain for France (6th overall behind Arsenal with €1,346 million), Bayern Munich for Germany (€1,000 million), Inter for Italy (€820 million), Benfica for Portugal (€549 million), PSV Eindhoven for the Netherlands (€400 million), Bruges for Belgium (€347 million), as well as Palmeiras for both Brazil and non-European clubs (€322 million).

>>> Top 100

>>> Top valued player per club in 70 leagues

>>> New Prospect Sheet with Impect : Taras Mykhavko