April 14 – A ranking by the CIES Football Observatory of the percentage of minutes played by footballers who had not yet turned 20 in domestic league matches found Denmark’s Nordsjælland top with an astonishing 37% of minutes played.
The data analyses the last five years played by 1,168 clubs in 76 leagues worldwide.
Slovakia’s MŠK Žilina and Septemvri Sofia of Bulgaria are the next highest ranked clubs globally, followed by two Venezuelan clubs (Mineros de Guayana and Deportivo La Guaira), as well as RSC Anderlecht.
“Uruguay’s Defensor SC are the third highest ranked non-European team, ahead of another Venezuelan team, Monagas SC, and Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle,” highlights the CIES authors.
Dortmund top the Big 5 league rankings ahead of Stade Rennais and FC Barcelona.
Ten clubs from France’s Ligue 1 are in the Big 5 top 20, with PSG at 16th using the most U-20 players at 28. Arsenal, one place below PSG, are the only Premier League team in the top 20.
Romanian side FCV Farul tops the table of most players U20 used, at 45.
To see the full ranking click here.
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