VALENCIA CF ACADEMY, THE FOURTH BEST IN EUROPE
The Valencia CF Academy is one of the great references in Europe in the training of footballers to compete in the elite. This is once again shown by the CIES Football Observatory in its report 436 of October 2023, which places Valencia CF as the fourth best Academy in Europe in terms of the number of players trained at the Ciutat Esportiva de Paterna and who currently play in the Big 5: the 5 major leagues: England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.
This report published by the CIES Football Observatory on Wednesday places the VCF Academy in 4th position in Europe and for the fifth consecutive year appears in the top 10 in number of players trained at the VCF Academy who are currently competing in one of the 5 major leagues with a total of 29 players currently competing in LaLiga, the Premier League, La Ligue 1 and Serie A.
THE BEST POSITION
This 4th position is the best position of the VCF Academy in quantitative terms since the CIES record exists and the figure of 29 players competing in the Big 5 is also the highest since these records exist.
Ahead of Valencia CF are only Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyon, while the top 10 behind Valencia CF is completed by Paris Saint Germain, Manchester United, Ath Club Bilbao, TSF Hofenheim, Chelsea FC and Bayern Munich.
The main criteria followed by the CIES Football Observatory is that established by UEFA, according to which training clubs are those in which players have been for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21 and have participated in the league of each country.
29 PLAYERS IN THE BIG 5In this CIES report, Valencia CF increases the number of players trained in its VCF Academy who currently compete in the 5 major leagues with a total of 29 players, compared to 25 last season.
A good part of those 29 players currently compete for Valencia CF: José Luis Gayà, Hugo Guillamón, Jesús Vázquez, Cristian Rivero, Javi Guerra, Mario Domínguez, Cristhian Mosquera, César Tárrega, Fran Pérez, Pablo Gozálbez and Hugo González.
The list could be even longer if the report had included players trained at the VCF Academy such as Rubén Iranzo or Jesús Santiago ‘Yellu’ who have already made their debut in the first team in an official match in past seasons, or Yarek Gasiorowski who made his debut in an official match once the 2023 Report was closed.
The Report also does not include players such as Jaume Domènech, Diego López or Alberto Marí who, having reached the first team through VCF Mestalla, do not meet the UEFA criteria for a youth player of having been at the club for 3 seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.
This CIES Report also reflects Valencia CF’s ability to train players to compete at the highest level in other competitions with another 18 players trained competing in the 5 major leagues: England, France, Italy, Germany or Spain in which it has a presence.
37 PLAYERS ACROSS EUROPEIn the total number of European leagues, the number of players trained at the VCF Academy has also increased and has risen from 30 to 37 players competing in one of the 31 European leagues , a figure that in any case does not include the presence of Pedro Alemañ and Darío Serra in the Eredivise.
Finally, the number of players trained at the VCF Academy rises to 43 in a latest update in this 2023 edition of the CIES Report, which has also added players in training competing in the main leagues in America and Asia , including, among others, the MSL.
IDENTITY AND METHODOLOGYThe VCF Academy once again demonstrates its ability to generate talent to supply players to the first team and to reach professional football. In the last 30 years, 113 players have made their debut in an official match with the first team having previously played at least for VCF Mestalla.
This report once again highlights that the identity and working methodology of the VCF Academy are a national and international benchmark in the training of players for the highest competitive level.
INTERNATIONAL INTERESTThe identity and working methodology of the VCF Academy also arouses interest at an international level, as shown by the different VCF Soccer Academies that the club has located in strategic markets in North America, Europe and Asia, the different international alliances with clubs, as well as the VCF Soccer Camp or VCF Elite Camp that in total allow Valencia CF to carry out activities with more than 5,000 players in more than 50 countries.
SENTIMENT, COURAGE AND GERMANOR
The identity and work methodology developed at the Ciutat Esportiva de Paterna is complemented by a very marked VCF Academy philosophy with the concepts: Sentiment , Courage and Germanor and all the values that make up each of them and make up the VCF Academy Values Project that is worked on both on and off the field of play.
We educate people, we train footballers is the motto that sums up the VCF Educa program , which includes all the actions carried out at the VCF Academy (AcademiaEnComunidad, Academia360, Escuela de Padres, Acuerdos Educativas, Acuerdos con Universidades) to seek comprehensive training for players and coaches, as well as the parents and relatives of the nearly 450 children who train every day at the Ciutat Esportiva de Paterna.
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