Rennes are one place off the podium in CIES' latest ranking of training clubs, but the numbers still put them among Europe’s most productive academies. The Breton club have 28 players trained on Breton soil active in the five biggest European leagues, which keeps them ahead of several bigger names in the production race.
The clubs just ahead of Rennes
Real Madrid lead the ranking with 40 players, while Barcelona have 34. Manchester City sit third on 29, just ahead of Rennes on 28, with Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain each on 27. The margin is tight, but Rennes are still right in the same conversation as clubs with far larger budgets and global recruitment reach.
The current form of Rennes graduates
The academy case is not built on volume alone. Ousmane Dembélé’s Champions League rating stands at 8.13, above his 7.06 Ligue 1 mark, while Désiré Doué is even higher at 9, compared with 7.03 in Ligue 1. Dembélé has 3 goals and 3 assists in his last five Champions League matches, and Doué has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last five.
Zinédine Zidane’s first France list also included Dembélé, Doué, Eduardo Camavinga, Jérémy Jacquet, Lucas Da Cunha, Adrien Truffert and Andy Diouf. That kind of spread is why Rennes' academy keeps getting the benefit of the doubt even without a podium finish. When the graduates are turning up in the France picture and producing in Europe, the ranking starts to feel like a fair reflection of where the club sits now.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
