Brief
The CIES Football Observatory has ranked more than 900 clubs according to a territorial anchorage index calculated on the basis of the percentage of national and club-trained players among those used in the league.

The latest weekly newsletter from the European football observatory (CIES) highlights the territorial roots of French and especially Spanish clubs compared to their Big 5 neighbours. How so? The researchers established the percentages of national and club-trained players used in the first team. The result—and this is no surprise—tops the rankings with Athletic Club and its unique regional model, with an index of 99.5 (100% Spanish players and 47.2% club-trained). The Basque club is followed by Osasuna, while Real Sociedad, FC Barcelona, ​​Valencia CF, and Celta Vigo round out the top 10. In France, AS Saint-Étienne is the club most closely linked to its territory with an index of 77.8 (79% French players in its squad and 36.8% club-trained). The Loire club is followed by Le Havre (82.6% and 23.5%) and Montpellier (75% and 30%). While countries renowned for their training methods are in the spotlight, there are six Italian and three English clubs among those that use the fewest national or club-trained players in their professional squads.