According to a study published this Wednesday by the Football Observatory (CIES), Benfica and Sporting are the second and third clubs with the largest number of players who have come through the youth teams playing in the “48 major world leagues”.
A total of 85 players who have played in Benfica’s youth teams, according to the criteria defined by CIES, represent clubs from these 48 championships, two more than Sporting (83), in a list topped by the Dutch Ajax. from 86.
The study looked at players aged between 15 and 21 who had been part of the youth academy for at least three years. period from 12 to 23 years.
When calculating the “48 largest world leagues,” CIES took into account Portugal’s I League and the main championships of the so-called “Big Five” (Germany, Spain, France, England and Italy), as well as the main divisions of Belarus and Ecuador. , Peru and Venezuela, among others.
Porto is the other national club featured in the study, with 48 players, just over half of its Lisbon rivals, and also the one that currently has the fewest youth athletes in its first team, with five, while Benfica has nine and Sporting has eight, according to CIES.