Ligue 1’s academies ranked among Europe’s best | OneFootball

France’s academies are renowned for developing players who go on to fill the squads of top clubs across Europe. That has been reflected in a recent study from CIES.

The CIES study looked at which clubs across Europe had brought on the most players over the past 20 years who have then gone on to feature within Europe’s top five divisions (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1). Unsurprisingly, French clubs feature prominently.

Real Madrid top the tree having brought 166 players through their academy within the time frame, whilst Barcelona, through their prestigious La Masia academy come second with 156. Paris Saint-Germain are ranked third (111), just ahead of French rivals Olympique Lyonnais. PSG had been renowned for developing players but not retaining them; that is now changing with Warren Zaïre-Emery the poster boy of the new strategy.

Seven Ligue 1 teams in top 20

Stade Rennais rank sixth in the standings (94) with AS Monaco in ninth with 88 players developed. Currently, the likes of Maghnes Akliouche, Eliesse Ben Seghir and Soungoutou Magassa are all impressing for Les Monégasques having come through La Diagonale.

Toulouse FC (11th with 87), FC Nantes (13th with 84) and AS Saint-Étienne (14th with 81) all also feature in the top 20 of the CIES study.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle