Chelsea’s crown on the line when 2025/26 Academy Rankings land on Monday
Written by
Ian Westbrook
September 4, 2026
Which Academy is producing more professional footballers than any other in England and Wales? You’ll find out at noon on Monday, when we publish the seventh edition of our exclusive Academy Productivity Rankings.
Chelsea have topped the table for three editions in a row, ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United. United are the only other team to have finished top (in the first three editions).
The Rankings measure each Academy’s contribution to developing the players who appeared in senior professional football during 2025/26. They are the only publicly-available resource of their kind in the UK – and this year’s edition is bigger, deeper and more rigorous than anything we have produced before.
More comprehensive than ever
For the first time, Welsh players have been included alongside their English counterparts, meaning Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham take their place in the table on the same footing as the 81 English Academies.
Competition coverage has also grown – from nine leagues to 23. As well as the top five English divisions and Europe’s ‘Big Five’, the Rankings now follow players into the leading leagues across the continent and on to Major League Soccer, Liga MX and the A-League – wherever English and Welsh Academy graduates are playing.
That takes the player population from 1,814 last year to 2,067, every one of them researched individually, with every Academy finding linked to supporting evidence.
And the scoring has been sharpened. Competition weightings have been recalibrated using Opta’s league-strength ratings, minutes played counts for the first time, and where a player came through more than one Academy, the credit is now shared according to how long he spent at each.
Find out where your club finished
The results throw up plenty of surprises. On Monday you’ll discover:
- Which Category Three Academy climbed 21 places.
- Which League One club finished inside the top 12, above a string of Premier League Academies.
- Which two Championship clubs made the top 10 – and which of the ‘big six’ is still climbing.
- Where the four Welsh clubs landed, and which of them is the highest new entrant in the table.
- Which of last year’s biggest risers dropped 26 places this time around.
- Which is the highest-ranked Category Three Academy, in 31st.
All 85 Category One to Three Academies are in there. Wherever your club sits, you’ll be able to see how it compares with last year.
Only TGG Members will be able to access the full Academy Rankings. To find out how to join, click below
What’s coming on Monday
At noon UK on Monday we will publish the headline results and an abbreviated table which is open to all. In addition, we will have an article by data scientist Ryan Inghilterra explaining how this year’s Rankings were researched and calculated.
The FULL table – with every club, every score, every position – will be available to TGG Members only.
Then on Monday evening at 7pm UK, Ryan will be delivering a live Masterclass for TGG Members, explaining how the Rankings were put together and sharing his insight into the results.
TGG Membership starts at £9 a month and gives you the full Rankings table, every previous edition, and a place at Monday’s Masterclass – along with much much more.
You can find out about the other benefits of becoming a Member and how to join HERE.
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