Argentina Dominates Ranking of World's Best Academies as Benfica Tops List, Brazil Places Five Clubs

Latin America's two great rivals, Brazil and Argentina, have again shown their dominance in producing world-class footballers. In a new ranking published by the Switzerland-based CIES Football Observatory, five Brazilian clubs have made the list of the world's top 30 academies. On numbers, however, Argentina is ahead, with more of its clubs in the list than any other country.

At the very top sits Portugal's Benfica, with a training index of 101.3. As many as 93 players who came through the club's academy are now playing in 49 first-division leagues around the world, a figure that underlines Benfica's consistency in developing talent.

In second place is Argentina's River Plate, with 97.6 points and 94 academy-produced players active in the leagues analysed. Third is another Argentine giant, Boca Juniors, with 96.7 points and 93 players.

Fourth place also belongs to Argentina, in the shape of Velez Sarsfield. The top five is completed by the Netherlands' Ajax, long renowned worldwide for nurturing young footballers.

Palmeiras is the highest-placed Brazilian club, ranking 13th with 65.7 points. A total of 59 players produced by its academy are playing in the leagues analysed.

Sao Paulo is 15th with 65.5 points and 60 players. Flamengo, in 19th place, has 63.1 points and 58 academy-produced players.

Two more Brazilian clubs appear near the end of the list. Fluminense is 28th with 59.1 points and 55 players, while Santos is 29th with 58.7 points and 53 players.

Brazilian clubs also have a notable presence when it comes to supplying players to Europe's top five leagues, England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Flamengo leads on that measure, with eight academy graduates playing in those five leagues. Palmeiras and Sao Paulo have five each, Santos has four and Fluminense has three.

The CIES Football Observatory used a training index to assess each club's player-development capacity. The index considers not only how many players an academy produced, but also the level at which they play, the minutes they spend on the pitch and their age.

For a club to count as a player's training club, the player must have spent at least three years there between the season of his 15th birthday and the age of 21. The entire ranking was built on that definition.

Four factors went into the ranking: the number of active players trained by the club across the 49 leagues analysed, the competitive level of their football, the minutes they played over the past year, and the players' ages, with younger players given greater weight.

After Benfica, River Plate and Boca Juniors, the top ten is completed by Velez Sarsfield, Ajax, Barcelona, Sporting CP, Defensor Sporting, Real Madrid and Red Star Belgrade. Manchester City ranks 23rd and Paris Saint-Germain 24th. The list shows once again how strong Latin America, and Argentina and Brazil in particular, remains as world football's production line of talent.