LALIGA clubs lead the way in player training

The academies of LALIGA clubs are respected around the world and a new report from the CIES Football Observatory has highlighted exactly why. The report ranks clubs from around the world, favouritesfootball schools, according to their ability to train top-level players. It outlines just how many of the footballers currently plying their trade in Europe’s top five leagues – LALIGA EA SPORTS, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 – came through the youth system of a Spanish club.

FC Barcelona are the very top “training club” in the world in this regard, with 46 La Masia graduates currently playing in the aforementioned five leagues. The study defines training clubs as “the first teams in which footballers have played for at least three years between the seasons of their 15th and 21st birthdays”. In the case of Barça, this applies to 12 players still at the club, as well as 34 other footballers around Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France. 

Yet, FC Barcelona aren’t the only Spanish club recognised for producing talents capable of playing in Europe’s best leagues. After Paris Saint-Germain, who are second in this list with 35 players, the podium is completed by Real Madrid, who have 34 academy graduates currently in Europe’s best leagues. 

In total, there are six Spanish clubs in the top 20 of this ranking, which is more clubs than from another other country. In addition to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, they are Valencia CF (fourth overall, with 26 players), Real Sociedad (seventh overall, with 24 players), Atlético de Madrid (16th overall, with 21 players) and Athletic Club (18th overall, with 20 players). Just a little further back are Villarreal CF and RCD Espanyol, with 17 academy graduates each, and CA Osasuna, with 15. 

Interestingly, the report also produces a metric called “training index”, which ranks training clubs not only by the overall number of graduates they have sent to Europe’s top five leagues but also by the perceived sporting level of these players. In this case, FC Barcelona stay top with a figure of 58.6, while Real Madrid leapfrog PSG into second with an index of 44.0. 

It’s an all-Spanish top five for graduates still at their training club

Finally, the report also delves into how many of each training club’s alumni are present in that same club’s 2024/25 first-team squad. Here, LALIGA EA SPORTS teams dominate once more. 

Across Europe’s top five leagues, no club has more academy graduates in the current first-team squad than Real Sociedad, with 16. Their Basque neighbours Athletic Club are second in the ranking, with 13, while FC Barcelona are third, with 12. Fourth-place belongs to Valencia CF, who have 11 graduates in their current squad, while fifth-place is shared by CA Osasuna and French side Saint-Étienne, each with 10. 

In conclusion, this report from CIES Football Observatory makes it clear that LALIGA clubs are training a huge number of top-level footballers and that many of these Spanish teams are keeping these homegrown talents in their own squads. That includes the likes of Real Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal, Athletic Club heroes Iñaki and Nico Williams, FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal, Valencia CF talisman José Gayà or CA Osasuna playmaker Aimar Oroz. These are all home heroes who have become fan favourites and who represent the values of their clubs and their academies in a special way.