SL Benfica, Football Academy Generating the Highest Profits

Youth player development in football club academies also generates revenue for the clubs. According to data from the CIES Football Observatory, Portuguese club SL Benfica has the academy with the highest transfer profit at €379 million.

CIES Football Observatory has compiled this data since July 2015. The calculation considers players who graduated from the academy and played for their respective clubs for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.

Real Madrid has the second most profitable academy, with €330 million. AS Monaco is ranked third with €285 million in profit, where the sale of Kylian Mbappé to PSG accounts for 63% of this total.

Next, Ajax's academy generated €283 million in profit, and Olympique Lyon €270 million.

Although only two English clubs are in the top 10, the total profit generated by academies of English clubs is the highest, at €2.03 billion.

Meanwhile, the combined value of French club academies generated €1.61 billion in profit, and Spanish club academies €1.39 billion.