European Top 5: RC Strasbourg Alsace, club where under-21s played the most minutes in 2024-25 (CIES)

RC Strasbourg Alsace (Ligue 1 McDonald's) is the club in the European Top 5 leagues with the highest percentage of minutes played by players under the age of 21 between the start of the 2024-25 season and 06/05/2025, according to the CIES Football Observatory's "Weekly Post", published on 07/05/2025.

With 59.4% of minutes played by its young players, the French club is ahead of FC Barcelona (LALIGA EA Sports, 38.3%) and another Ligue 1 club, Stade de Reims (29.7%). "With 98.8% of league minutes played by footballers aged 25 or under at the time of the matches, RC Strasbourg holds the world record for youth," said CIES.

The percentage of minutes played by players under 21 is over 20% in 11 clubs from the European Top 5: four French, three Spanish, two Bundesliga and two Premier League clubs. Juventus FC, the Serie A Enilive club that gives the most playing time to U21 players, is in 15^th place (18%).

Two clubs from the European Top 5 did not field any U21 players in the league over the period (SSC Napoli and FC Inter Milan), and a total of 14 clubs gave them less than 1% of the playing…