April 3 – Colombian side Envigado FC has been named the most locally–anchored club in world football, according to the latest CIES Football Observatory ranking.
The study analysed more than 900 clubs across 55 leagues worldwide, measuring the percentage of national players and club-trained footballers fielded in domestic league matches over the past year.
Envigado topped the list with an impressive 93.8% of their squad made up of Colombian players, including 54.2% who were developed at the club.
The top three were completed by Spain’s Athletic Club, known for their Basque-only player policy, and Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kyiv. The highest-ranked European club outside the top three, CA Osasuna, placed 17th overall.
Latin American teams dominated the upper ranks, with Paraguay’s Club Libertad finishing fourth, followed by Mexico’s Chivas de Guadalajara and Colombia’s Millonarios Bogotá. The top 10 also featured Atlético Nacional (Colombia), Vélez Sarsfield and CA Belgrano (Argentina), and Caracas FC (Venezuela).
The rankings also highlight stark differences in squad-building philosophies across Europe’s top leagues.
Athletic Club unsurprisingly topped LaLiga with a near-perfect 99.5 score, but in England, where clubs heavily rely on foreign talent, the highest-ranked team were Newcastle United with just 53.0. Current Premier League leaders Liverpool ranked far lower with only 25.3.
Elsewhere, Empoli led Serie A (48.0), SC Freiburg topped the Bundesliga (59.9) and AS Saint-Étienne had the highest score in Ligue 1 (77.8).
In Asia, Sanfrecce Hiroshima ranked highest at 23rd, just ahead of Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf (24th) and Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol (28th). Adelaide United led the way for Australian clubs, while Seattle Sounders topped the MLS rankings.
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