5 great youth academies in FM21

Using our own Football Manager club database, we have selected five clubs with awesome youth academies. These clubs will be able to produce amazing youngsters through their yearly youth intakes.

Club Brugge

Club Brugge is one of the biggest clubs in Belgium and they have won the Jupiler Pro League title three times in the last five seasons. They are the reigning champions and will be entering the Champions League in the first season. The club has some talented youngsters in their squad, with Charles de Ketelaere and Youssouph Badji being the best.

Atalanta Bergamo

The Italian club Atalanta Bergamo has been enjoying a strong period in their history. The club has finished in the top four of the Serie A in consecutive seasons and even made it into the quarter finals of the Champions League last season. They have one of the best youth academies in FM2021, with every rating for their youth academy being 18+. Weirdly enough they don't have many great youngsters in the first season, but with these ratings it shouldn't take long for the talented players will be joining through the youth intake.

Red Bull Salzburg

Nobody can look past Red Bull Salzburg. This club has been producing talent for the past couple of years. Since the club was taken over by Red Bull they have been investing heavily in their youth academy and that has been very rewarding. They also have a high rating for Youth Importance, which shows just how much they like to work with young and talented players. Their best talents in FM21 are Patson Daka, Dominik Szoboszlai, Karim Adeyemi and Luka Susic.

Sporting Portugal

Portuguese clubs are well-known for their youth academies. FC Porto and Benfica both have amazing youth academies and these have produced some of the finest players in the world. On this list we have made room for Sporting Portugal, the third club in Portugal (fans might nog like us saying it, so sorry.). But needless to say is that Sporting have produced some amazing footballers in the past, including Cristiano Ronaldo. Though a player like him isn't in their current academy, they have some wonderful talent with Pedro Goncalves and Daniel Braganca.

Racing Genk

We have decided to add a second Belgian club to this list, Racing Genk. They have produced players like Thibaut Courtois, Wilfred Ndidi, Yannick Carrasco and off course Kevin de Bruyne. They have an eye for talent and this is reflected in Football Manager. They are among the elite clubs in the game in terms of their youth acadamy and that academy is just waiting to be filled with amazing young players. In FM21 their best talents are Maarten Vandevoordt, Jhon Lucumi and Carlos Cuesta.

Other great academies

There are plenty more great academies in Football Manager 2021. Below you will see a selection of other notable youth academies in the game.