Redaccion
Players trained in Lezama have participated in 63.9% of the minutes that Athletic has played in LaLiga after 24 matchdays.
The Demographic Atlas prepared by the prestigious Swiss research center CIES Football Observatory reveals that Athletic is the European team that most uses its academy players in the five major leagues, with 63.9% of the minutes played by players trained in Lezama. FC Barcelona follows closely behind with 49.3% of the minutes.
In LaLiga, after Athletic (63.9%), the top 5 is completed by FC Barcelona (49.3%), RCD Espanyol (40%), Real Sociedad (38.8%), and Valencia CF (37.5%).
The CIES Football Observatory follows UEFA criteria to consider a player as a youth academy product, including those who have played for the club’s teams for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. Therefore, the report includes 15 current members of the squad who have already participated in LaLiga 2024/25: Unai Simón, Agirrezabala, Vivian, Paredes, Yeray, Nuñez, Sancet, Ruiz de Galarreta, Jauregizar, Prados, Unai Gómez, Canales, Iñaki Williams, Nico Williams, and Guruzeta.
It also excludes others who, either because they were academy players before turning 15 or because they were trained in affiliated clubs, have not played three full seasons between the ages of 15 and 21 at Athletic Club. Therefore, players like Lekue, Vesga, or Yuri, who have passed through lower teams in Lezama, are not among the 15 included in the report, nor are those who have not played minutes in LaLiga 2024/25 until 02/19/2025, which is the end date of the period analyzed in the report.
