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.
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.