Top 10 Football Academies in the world

Nowadays almost every football club is looking to fast track their youth into the first team but there are some clubs who have been doing that very thing for generations. Here is a list of the top football academies in the world.

#10 Crewe Alexandra

Crewe Alexandra is another respectable football academy that is often dropped from such lists due to their lack of success. The Railwaymen have produced a lot of successful players that have gone on to become successful England internationals.

The Academy excessively focuses on training their player in technical football with great importance given to passing techniques. The current direct of Crewe is their former manager Dario Gardi who has been associated with the club for years.

Crewe has rarely played in the top division of English football but acts as an important feeder club to many great English teams, most notably Manchester United.

Successful Graduates: Nick Powell, Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy, David Platt, Robbie Savage.

#9 West Ham United

Many people overlook this great club due to their lack of trophies but in reality West Ham United have produced some really excellent players who have been integral for both club and country. In fact, one of West Ham’s nicknames is “The Academy”.

The Hammers Academy acquired a legendary status in England after they produced players like Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters who played a big part in England’s victorious 1966 World Cup campaign. West Ham produced an astonishing eight England internationals on par with Manchester United and one more than Arsenal.

Tony Carr, who has been with the club since 1973 and was the Director of Youth Development at West Ham, is one of the main reasons why their academy is so successful.

Successful Graduates: Paul Ince, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson, Jermain Defoe.

#8 Sporting CP

Sporting CP’s academy is still considered to be one of the best in the world even though not many Sporting youngsters have moved to big clubs in recent times. Some legendary players have come out of Sporting’s academy and have won numerous trophies with other clubs.

The scouting system of Sporting is one of the best in the world and the academy currently has young players of different nationalities. Stats have shown that at least seven Sporting players are in the Portugal national squad in all age groups. The only disadvantage of Sporting’s academy is that their players have exorbitant price tags.

Successful Graduates: Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Nani, Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho.

#7 Anderlecht

Anderlecht’s academy has become a force to reckon with in recent years due to a large number of talented footballers in Belgium. Many of the world's big clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea have tapped up Anderlecht’s players.

Due to the demand of Belgian players in countries like England, Anderlecht will probably see more of their stars play for one of Europe’s big clubs. Young stars like Massimo Bruno and Youri Tielemans have bright futures ahead of them. Expect more Anderlecht stars to make headlines in the future.

Successful Graduates: Romelu Lukaku, Adnan Januzaj, Vincent Kompany.

#6 Real Madrid

Los Blancos have produced several youth players over the years but they sold them in favour of more established superstars. Real have always been one of the clubs who love success the fast way and have sold several players who have gone on to become world class stars at other clubs (Eg: Samuel Eto’o).

The Madrid based club have finally opened their eyes and integrated some youth stars into their first team like Alvaro Morata, Jese and Nacho Fernandez. Hopefully more young players will get a chance in the first team in the coming years.

Successful Graduates: Roberto Soldado, Juan Mata, Alvaro Morata, Jese and Nacho Fernandez, Iker Casillas.

#5 Southampton

The Saints academy continues to be lowly ranked and sometimes excluded from such lists which is extremely shocking as they have produced so many world class talents in recent years.

Alan Shearer and Matt le Tissier are two notable graduates of the youth system along with a certain Welshman who is currently one of the best players in the world – Gareth Bale. While most clubs scour the world for young talent the Saints’ youth academy consists mostly of England born youngsters who are converted into top players by the academy coaches.

Southampton’s brilliant youth academy greatly benefits the England national football team who have several Saints stars in their ranks for this upcoming World Cup.

Successful Graduates: Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw.

#4 Manchester United

The Old Trafford outfit were one of the first clubs to build their team on young players and have relied on them since the 1950s. Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Matt Busby preferred a mixture of raw talent along with experience and was famous for producing the immortal Busby Babes who were regarded as some of the most talented players in Europe.

Sir Alex Ferguson was a great admirer of Busby’s philosophy and had his own bunch of talented young players that were fondly known as “Fergie’s Fledgelings”. United have continued to follow the philosophies of these two great managers and have one of the best youth academies in the world today consisting most of lads from in and around Manchester.

James Wilson, Tom Lawrence, Andreas Periera and Jesse Lingard are some young stars tipped for bright futures.

Successful Graduates: Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Jonny Evans.

#3 Bayern Munich

Why Bayern Munich continue to poach talent from clubs like Borussia Dortmund in spite of having one of the best academies in the world will probably remain a mystery. All complaints aside, Bayern have produced some remarkable players that have taken the Bundesliga by storm.

The German club currently has over 150 first team hopefuls in their academy which is a remarkable number. The Bavarians also have an excellent scouting system and have deployed scouts in countries like India, U.S.A and parts of Africa to hunt for talent.

Successful Graduates: Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller.

#2 Ajax

The Dutch outfit have received enormous praise for their youth academy and with good reason. Ajax relies heavily on their youth and even won the 1995 Champions League with plenty of young players in the first team.

The Eredivisie side have sold a lot of their young players in recent years but have still continued to produce top class talents. Despite losing a majority of their talent Ajax continues to dominate the Eredivisie with their young guns.

Successful Graduates: Dennis Bergkamp, Clarence Seedroff, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder.

#1 Barcelona

The Catalan club were not the first team in the world to build a youth academy but La Masia is undoubtedly the best in the world today. The credit for establishing La Masia goes to former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff who wanted to build an Ajax-like academy in Spain.

The academy was a great success and produced notable players such as Pep Guardiola, Carles Busquets and Guillermo Amor. La Masia continued to produce world class players and today most of Barcelona’s first team is comprised of homegrown talent.

The Barcelona Under-19 side won the inaugural UEFA Youth League and will be a young team to watch out for in the future. The club have scouts all over the world and recently conducted many camps in countries including India.

Successful Graduates: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Victor Valdes, Pedro.