2025-26 European Top 5: Barça ahead of Real Madrid & PSG in number of active players trained (CIES)

FC Barcelona (LALIGA EA Sports) is the club that has trained the most active players since the start of the 2025-26 season in the European Top 5 leagues (Germany, England, Spain, France and Italy), with 40 players having passed through its training centre, according to the CIES Football Observatory's "Weekly Post" published on 14/01/2026.

The Catalan club is ahead of Real Madrid CF (LALIGA EA Sports, 35 players trained) and Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1 McDonald's, 31 players). Another French club, Stade Rennais FC, ranks 4^th (29 players), ahead of AFC Ajax (Eredivisie, 27 players), the first club outside the European Top 5.

Chelsea FC (6^th) is the Premier League club that has trained the most players (26 players), while Juventus FC (18^th) is the leading Serie A Enilive club with 17 players trained in its academy, ahead of FC Bayern Munich (19^th, 16 players), first Bundesliga representative.

The Real Madrid academy graduates accumulated the most minutes played (29,439 minutes), ahead of Barcelona (25,076), Stade Rennais (22,599) and Paris Saint-Germain (18,455).

• A "training club" is a…