Long considered a benchmark in France and Europe, the Olympique Lyonnais training center is losing momentum, as indicated by the latest report from the CIES Football Observatory.
The OL training center falls
With 21 players from its training center who were aligned between the start of the current season and January 12, 2026, Olympique Lyonnais is only the 11th best training club in the European big 5. A position which could have been satisfactory but which is not at all given its rank in previous years. Overall, since January 1, 2016, over the last ten years, OL has been the 4th best training club in Europe, ahead of behemoths like Manchester United or Bayern Munich. A decadence which can be explained by a very delicate period experienced in parallel by the Rhone club. The recent appointment of Christian Bassila to the post of Director of the OL Academy is, however, a strong signal sent by the managers, who want to build a bright future by nurturing the talents of its training center.
With 40 players on the circuit from its training center, Barça is at the top of the ranking, ahead of Real Madrid (35), PSG (31) and Stade Rennais (29) which has made a spectacular comeback between the last 5 years and today.
