Portuguese football academies are the most profitable in the world of football

Portugal's football academies are the most profitable in the world, with Manchester City the only Premier League club in the top XNUMX, a new study finds The Football Investment Reportcreated by the platform eToroin cooperation with the portal provides.

In a nutshell:

• Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto have earned +1,1 billion euros from academy player sales over the last decade,
• Premier League clubs lag behind in profits from selling home-grown talent
• Benfica, Ajax and Lille are the most profitable clubs in the world based on transfer fees alone.

Portugal the golden hen of football

The report reveals that Portugal has become the center of the football world when it comes to developing and profiting from young talent. The three biggest clubs in the country – Benfica, Sporting Lisbon i Oporto – over the last decade, they have earned a total of EUR 1,1 billion from the sale of their pupils. 

At the top of the list is Benfica, which has earned €2013 million since the 14/543 season thanks to the sale of stars such as João Félix, Ruben Dias and Ederson. This is significantly more than Ajax, the world's second-highest-grossing academy, which generated €376m in the same period, with the biggest individual deal being the transfer of academy graduate Matthijs de Ligt. 

CHECK: How to invest in football clubs [Guide]

Sporting Lisbon (where Cristiano Ronaldo began his career in world football) and Porto are in fourth and seventh place respectively, earning €363m and €287m respectively thanks to the sale of academy stars over the last ten years.

Despite the current success of Lech Poznań, there are no Polish clubs on the list, although we have been selling our greatest talents for years - the best example here is Robert Lewandowski.

Clubs with the highest revenues from the sale of their own players since 2013/14

Benfica and Ajax are the leaders

Benfica and Ajax are the highest-grossing clubs in the world based on transfer fees, with neither Premier League team making the top 10. In addition to highlighting the revenues from the sale of academy players, the eToro report also looked at which clubs have seen the highest profits based on fees from all transfers in recent years. In the last five seasons, Benfica also topped the list, generating €356 million in transfers since the start of the 2018/2019 season. 

Ajax and Lille are second and third, earning €308m and €283m respectively, where the French club's profits include Nicolas Pépé's £80m transfer to Arsenal in 2019/20. None of the Premier League clubs appeared on this list.

The list of the largest transfer profits shows a special lack of Polish football clubs - their biggest challenge is the talent development policy. This ranking promotes clubs that repeatedly sell their charges, and Polish clubs, if they decide to do so, usually sell them expensively and these are isolated cases.

Clubs with the highest transfer profits since the 2018/19 season

Paweł Majtkowski, analyst at eTorocommented on the report:

The Premier League is the world's richest league, but it's not the most lucrative when it comes to transfer fees alone, nor is it as prolific in accounting for huge fees for academy stars.

However, one area where Premier League clubs are doing well is the growth in the value of their players thanks to the best coaches and consistent exposure at the highest level, with Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool among the top ten teams when it comes to squad value growth.

Premier League teams among the best when it comes to ROI on the pitch

In terms of increasing the value of their squad, Premier League teams are doing well, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool in the top XNUMX. 

Spurs' current squad is valued at €711,3m after costing the club €390,4m - an increase of €321,0m. Not far behind are Arsenal, whose current squad is worth €271,4 million more than the players cost the club (many young stars, such as academy graduate Bukayo Saka or Martin Odegaard, who signed a contract in 2021, gained values). Polish player Jakub Kiwior is also valued at 8 million euros.

On the other hand, looking at Barcelona, ​​the most famous Polish footballer, Robert Lewandowski, is included in the valuation, but he is not the source of the club's position. It was bought for 45 million euros and is now valued at the same amount, so there is no added value at this point.

The best clubs when it comes to increasing the value of their squad

*Values ​​adopted as of January 31, 2023.

Majtkowski adds:

Football has probably been in a bull market for over 40 years and the increase in transfer amounts is simply staggering. Behind the big numbers, however, lies a complex ecosystem of clubs, many of which work towards very different goals, specializing in different areas of the market. Some are experts at investing in growth, while others are willing to pay a higher price for the finished product.

Whatever approach these clubs take to buying, selling and developing a squad, there are important lessons we can take as individual investors - whether it's a matter of doing due diligence, not getting swept away by FOMO overpaying or, above all, knowing when to sell.

Football investment report is available download here.