In its weekly letter on Monday, the football observatory, CIES, published its annual ranking of European training centers. 31 main divisions of the continent are thus analyzed.
If we refine the ranking to the 5 major championships: England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, AS Saint-Etienne ranks 11th. The top three are occupied by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais. ASSE is the 4th French club after Lyon, PSG and Stade Rennais.
The “green mine” has found its way
In its criteria, the CIES considers that, for a player to be trained at the club, he must have played for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.
Three years is precisely the age of the “green mine” project launched in 2017 by the director of the training center at the time Julien Sablé. Its objective was to restore its letters of nobility to the Saint-Etienne formation.
With players like Fofana or Saliba, Claude Puel’s assistant is in the process of achieving this. 22 players trained at Etrat are playing today in a major championship.