Ajax declared world’s best football academy

Things might not be going well on the pitch for Ajax’s senior team, but their youth ranks remain as impressive as ever.

The Amsterdam giants are currently in the Eredivisie relegation zone with just one win in their first seven games triggering an almighty crisis.

However, there is soom good news for Ajax fans, with research from CIES showing that they’ve produced more players in top level European football than any team in the world.

There are currently 86 top flight players in world football who learned their trade at Ajax, with Benfica second on 85 and Sporting third on 83.

In recent years the Amsterdammers raised close to £150million just from the sales of Mathijs de Ligt to Juventus and Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona.

Now, though, their priority is finding a decent manager.