A brief history of Clairefontaine: France’s elite football academy.
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Clairefontaine is responsible for refining and perfecting the technical and tactical acumen of players like Thierry Henry, Louis Saha, Medhi Benatia, Nicolas Anelka, William Gallas, Hatem Ben Arfa, Abou Diaby, Olivier Giroud, Blaise Matuidi, and the recent crown jewel of
the program, PSG’s Kylian Mbappe.
There were 50 players born in France representing various nations at the 2018 World Cup, an astounding figure that demonstrates the scope of France’s ability to produce football players. But how did the French perfect the concept of player development? How has this country continuously produced the most exciting, powerful, technical, and tactically smart players on the planet?
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#mbappe #frenchfootball #clairefontaine
Jeez even Clairefontaine’s rejects are great - see N’Golo Kante.
no that just means their ability to identify quality is imperfect at best and unreliable at worst
@@EMETRL They are brilliant. Its hard to see which 13-15 year old will make it and which not. So of course a few players they don't take will also make it. Thats normal in every academy. But they are more successful than most others. A 15 year old can be totally different with 18 so its hard to see the potential.
@@EMETRL ngolo started his pro career in a very bad side so apparently, they werent the only ones
@@JustFun-fe7ux exactly. You see it in almost every sport. For every cant miss prospect, theres plenty who late bloom. And one coach may see something another may not. It's sometimes just dumb luck, fate, whatever you wanna call it that some shine and others don't.
@@hazelryner8778 in the 2013 NBA draft a flop from the a great basketball school was considered the best whilst a young greek-nigerian who had the best physical capabilities was overlooked. 7 years on he is arguably the best player in the world the other has been out of the league since his second year.
Nothing better than to watch a new Tifo video and listen to Joe's narration.
Ulquitous honestly🙏🏾
I really hope ligue 1 gets more investment like the premier league and bundesliga, the worlds best footballing country should be able to keep that talent for longer in their domestic league
Dude just resumed everything up with Brazil. World's best footballing country should be able to keep talent for longer in their domestic league.
Make a video on a story and tactical about Paolo Maldini, please.
This era of French players is absolutely phenomenal. Players like Benzema and Lacazette don’t even make it into the squad
Benzema doesn't make the squad for a slightly different reason.
Snare If it’s because of the Valbuena thing then that’s ridiculous seeing as he is miles off the French team but even if Benzema could he wouldn’t make it in
little boy Dedoid right because Giroud is better than Real Madrid’s number 9😶
@@lucajohnson2827 that is true. Benzema is better than Giroud. But deschamps like Giroud because he fits his tactics.
@@littleboy1273 wtf? Did you saw him last season at Real Madrid? He was phenomenal, of course he could make the French NT he's better than Griezmann
that "clairefontaine" word sounds really good. I'm not a fan of french but that word has a really nice ring.
It simply means "clear fountain" :)
@@Julesgio I thought so. I know "claire" and I just assumed fontaine is what it sounds like. Thanks for confirming that for me.
@@Julesgio sounds so much better in French lol... Come to think of it, almost everything sounds better in French
France became world champions arguably without their best defender and striker.. the depth of their national team is insane.
Who's their best defender since Varane played every matches ? (Don't tell me that Laporte is the best)
@@raptorjesus1393 It was a while back I think I meant Laporte but given this year, you're right Varane is a beast at cb.
It's another brilliant video on something that I didn't even know I was curious about. Thank you so much, you;'re the definition of quality
Correction: in 1998 they relied on the defensive backline of Thuram, Desailly, BLANC (not Leboeuf) and Lizarazu ;)
Gregory Vincke not for the final they didn’t
@@andymacduff2 1998. A year.
@@andymacduff2 because blanc couldn't play. It wasn't a choice.
Only reason Leboeuf got to play the final is because of Laurent Blanc red card against Croatia in the semi final.
Small precision. Players are selected at the age of 12 usually. Then stay until they're ~15, before (hopefully) joining the pro club that signs them during that 3 year span. Some get signed at the age of 12, still train at Clairefontaine over those 3 years but play with their club for matches on the weekend. (I've been at the selection)
David Trezeguet was a bigger part of that 2000 French team than Anelka, and of course way more talented.
Man... That 2000 Euro 22 man squad is crazily invincible. All of them are having "club legend" as their lowest resume (except one player). The most complete roster in international football champions ever.
2006 French Squad was even better I think
Yes! Thank you for talking about Clairefontaine! France really takes formation seriously in sports
Due to the help of africa.
@@danio6704 So?
@@lucaslonchampt613 you're french. You should know whats really yours.
@@danio6704 Nonsense
@@danio6704 Clairefontaine forms players from different countries. What is the problem?
They need to make a documentary about this school
Enjoying the video so much. Your way to describe precised analytics of France football characters are very well delivered 💯🙌
As a French, I didn't know all of this. Great job!
Clairefontaine, thank you for Benatia 😅
Brilliant and informative video again, knew bits and pieces and clairefontine but just learned a bunch of new stuff!!
I like how the music selection is always perfect for the vibe
This story was not on The Athletic.
This comment appeared first on The Athletic
Qiqiqiqiqiqi
@@Naytexo the best place to read about football
🤣🤣
Clairefontaine, Ajax Academy and La Masia. The closest this world will ever achieve to Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Hogwarts. The places where the magic begins.
Adrian Arshad la Masia sucks
La Masia is overrated
All for Real Madrid wins .
@@user-my4qf2fe9r la masia produced some of the finest players in the world in Messi, iniesta,xavi and puyol
La Masia doesn't produce a great player since Messi lol
Great video! As a brazilian I feel very sad to see my country being overtaken. WAKE UP BRAZIL!!!
Samuel Berredo Brazil will never die in football. The talent will always be there
@bumdog I know, but we need to be aware. Countries like France and England are improving a lot in this area.
Samuel Berredo don't forget about germany and uruguay
@@honestpenaldo Of course. Uruguay is smaller than the state where I live in Brazil and still manages to reveal great players.
Samuel Berredo yes, but since they are a small country, it's going to take some time for them to make better players, almost all of their current squad is over the age of 30
you and zio legend are the most underrated football channels 👏
I remember when i played Football Manager 2012. Every March i always look at their new youngster because they always provide world class wonderkid and buy it for free 🤣🤣🤣
1998 defence is not made with Frank Leboeuf but Laurent Blanc. Frank Leboeuf only played the final (and 3rd group match cause France was already qualified at 1st place) because Blanc was sent off against Croatia
Fascinating explanation, thank you!
The story was first appeared in Tifo Football
Juan Manuel Torres England's setup at St.Georges' park at the start of the last decade is quite impressive. The results in the age group tournaments in the last few years show that their efforts are beginning to bearing fruit. However, the talent in England is handicapped by the fact that not many sides in the top flight are able to give youngsters adequate and regular gametime. It is here that other major European leagues are particularly stand out.
Nice video!
you guys should do a video on Watford and their recent transfer policy of signing young south American players, like richarlison, peñaranda, cucho Hernandez, Estupiñan, etc. I think it would be really interesting to see their system of being a mid/lower table club and having so many players out on loan
Would love to see a podcast on this
Merci from France ; amazing pedagogical and clear brillant vision of "les bleus" BRAVO à vous !! Powerful meanings for the next generation
Sancho and Rashford are certainly testament to St George’s Park philosophy, adopted of course from the French academy
Still not as impressive as the talent from France
Ștefan Kovacs was born in Timișoara, not bucharest, as sugested in the video
Great video
Wait so they stay at Clairefontaine during the week and then they go to different clubs during the weekend?
This is a youth program. They go to clubs at an older age.
Basically yes, but at a younger age before they are signed to major clubs.
They dont train with their clubs yes
They train and learn everything at Clairefontaine then go and play in the club the week-end. At Clairefontaine, they do not learn only everything about football but they follow class with math, french , history,...
Muchas gracias for yet another excellent vid. Hey, here's a suggestion for a vid.. What the heck is Ruben Amorim doing over at Braga?
This is honestly what Australia needs so badly RN tired of average players with little to no technique playing for Australia
Matuidi playing LM for France, but normally CM or CDM shows how well they develop players
Make a video about an portuguese academy
So cool guys.
I'm French and your French Accent is very good
No.
No.
No.
On s'en tape ! 😙
No its not hahaha
4:20 The defensive line was Thuram, Dessailly, Lizarazu and BLANC. Not Leboeuf who was just Blanc's replacement for the final because Blanc was suspended.
What font do they use for the videos? It’s perfect.
Make a video on ATLANTA BC they are currently the top scoring team of Serie A And pls explain G gasperini tactics
Somebody show this to the Indian football federation
Albin Joseph Roy, even IF they did; it would'nt make a difference....... & also do me a favour by refraining from asking why and embarrasing me and your own self because we all know why & whatnot.
Well you already need quality players and a quality league to develop more quality players. Thats difficult for india.
@JustFun I don't think quality players is the key, the model anyways emphasized on 13-15 year olds. A lot changes in that period of training till someone is 17 . The problem is the government of India wouldn't even deploy this kind of program for football they've already done it for cricket and hockey but they've not encouraged football much
@Askell Tomlin Learn history than you would know why these countries have a lot of immigrants. And they see themselves as french so there's no problem about it.
@Sylvester Banini He named france so he did talk about them. He said "get kids from africa". Which france didn't do. They have a lot of immigrants because they where a colonial power. Many of these immigrants are there since a long time and are more french than african. So i see them as french. Otherwise they would represent another country:)
Great video, little mistake though : Henry was there with the national team in 1998.
England did have lilleshall before st George's park where elite football age groups went and got developed.... started around early 80s before clairefontaine. so bit strange to suggest infrastructure for st George's park came from INF.
The INF Vichy started in 1972, that's when we reformed football formation in France, the Clairefontaine center was built later between 1984 and 1988 because the program had grown. Clairefontaine became iconic mostly because it is Les Bleus basecamp, however it was not the start of new philosophy of football in France
ppl dont know how mannyyyy players they have seen at the actual acadamy or a at least a trialll so many famous namesssssssss
Would you make a video on Steven Zhang, Suning and Inter Milan
France have come a long way in the last 10 years. Who could forget their exceptional poor show in South Africa? That was the catalyst for change.
And that is sad.
No that not sad. It s exciting. You will never know what going to happen.
how do you square their approach with Germany's 8 straight semifinal placings? Whats the similarities and differences?
A fountain of players
To those who ask about L1 weakness : it s all about money and most precisly our tax system. If a player wants to get the same salary than in England, Spain or Italy, the french has to pay him way more to compensate his futur taxes. Neymar is a good instance. Paris, with the money from Qatar, is the only club able to pay way more than english or spanish clubs to compensate higher taxes the players will pay in France. Things would be different with a common European tax system.
yo mamen, please do the video about Italian coaching school Coverciano
After Clairefontaine, will Tifo make a video about Coverciano?
@Tifo Football can you pls make a video about transfers subject to medical checks? Did ever a transfer went bust bec of a medical check even when that player played all matches in that season?
PLEASE MAKE A VIDEO ON FERNANDO REDONDO OR LOTHAR MATTHAUS!
Henry was already a crucial player in 1998, and he scored a few important goals !
Not exactly. Our first game in 98 world cup was only his third with the national team. He was considered as a rookie and closed to not go at the world cup at all. Ba and Anelka were expected to go instead. He scored during the first stage and did well, but was on the bench against Italy and Brazil. Two years later he was considered as our best offensive option after a great season in Arsenal, and we adapt our way of playing to him and Anelka. We played with 3 defensive midfielder in 98, and only 2 in 2000.
@@mkpvid Henry did score in the penalty shoot-outs against Italy in quarter-final. The very last penalty shoot-out session won by France in both world cups and euros.
@@Clery75019 and ? As I said he was a substitute who came in and shoot a penalty, like Trezeguet.
@@mkpvid Yeah, but knowing how we lost all our penalty shoot-outs since then, I'm biased to think that scoring a shoot-out is not a small feat! 😅
Brief History on Didier Drogba please
Can you make a transfer video about psv Eindhoven they have a really bad year and need a lot of good quality players
If every country built a world class academy then went with those players in the world cup there would be carnage but I guess some countries can never really do it!
impossible, not every country has nearly 70 million people, also alot of kids growing up in France invest everything in football because they don't see another way to make money, that's not the case for many others.
Did they also teach the players how to sulk for a transfer?
Champions du monde :3
Could you do a video on how Brexit will affect English football? If you have could you link it or something
Thy already did that
does england, germany, or USA have an equivalent?
World Cup 1998: Guivarch not scoring a single goal in World Cup. France 1998: Hold my beer...... (20 years later) World Cup 2018: Giroud not scoring a single goal in World Cup. France 2018: Hold my beer......
hold my wine *
Henry was there in 98 too
4:20 Actually Laurent Blanc was ahead of Frank Leboeuf. Frank Leboeuf only got to play in Final because of Laurent Blanc's red card in the semi final against Croatia
English premier league - home for French fc
Hale End when?
These players were originally scouted by The Athletic
France has played 5 finals of a major international tournament in the last 20 years (Euro or World cup)… just sayin, they're the best team in the world over that period, and will be for the next 20. World cup winner in 1998, and 2018, World cup finalist in 2006 (and they were by far the best team), Euro winner in 2000, and Euro finalist in 2016 (again being the best team), they failed once or twice (2002, 2010), they could have done a great performance in the 2014 World cup, but they played Germany in quarter lost 1-0 in a very close game against the next world champion. So overall, no national team come even close to that level of performance since two decades… and if they win the Euro 2021, it's over.
If football is a world of actors tifo is a stage for The Athletic
😅😅 underated comment
Raphael Guerreiro
Bonjour !
this is why south american national teams only stand a chance if they rely on european clubs to form their players
The brazil team of the 1970’s is arguably the greatest to have ever played football and I doubt you could name a player that was developed outside of brazil, much less in europe.
@@hanklesacks i meant in the present day
Ankle Socks agreed, that brazil team would shit all over any team today, including the most overrated team in football history aka barcelona 2011
So Claire Fontaine is blue lock ?
What's going on as t Atletico why are they struggling to keep up with Madrid and Barca. Why do they struggle to buy players that fit in their system?
The ironic thing about TRUE artists is that they say a lot of shit that doesn't make sense to normal people but only to themselves with the intent to simplify an explanation, when in true sense it does the complete opposite. Case scenario: Jean-Claude Lefargue saying, "If it is a sad role, he (actor) has to be sad. In a match, It is the same thing. If you have a really good actor, you cannot just give him a small role you have to make more of him".
I know this is a very sensitive subject but I really find it fascinating that France (according to wikipedia) is made up out of 85% caucasians, yet there are barely any caucasian french footballers. Why is that? Do the white french not play football or are they just bad at it? Against Croatia in the world cup final 2018 there were 6 caucasians in the match day squad (out of 23). That's 26%. Want to clarify that there's nothing wrong with it at all and that they have incredible footballers but it's fascinating that it's such a vast difference between country and football.
It's just like south Africa is majority black but has a mostly white rugby team
It’s pretty simple. France can not only call upon their own countrymen but that of several other countries, what with loads of immigration from Algeria and various African countries that speak French. As soon as immigrants get their papers, they are officially French. Even if they are not, either culturally or ethnically. France are a fraud country who directly benefit off Africa by stealing their players from countries that would surely benefited from them. The fact that Africa hasn’t had a single team reach the semi finals of the World Cup in its history is an indicator of how far countries like France will go to DIRECTLY BENEFIT FROM THE LABOUR OF BLACKS in order to get a competitive advantage. Hell, they aren’t even the only country that pulls this weird fuckshit and it’s why football is a fucking joke that is tilted for the major powers of the game and puts every other country at a disadvantage. Take the example of Ansu Fati, a Barcelona wonderkid who was born in Guinea-Bissau, but was so good, the Spanish government gave him citizenship so he could be eligible to play for the Spanish national team. Let’s stick with Guinea-Bissau again with Ronaldo Vieira, who’s playing for the England u21s at the moment while his twin brother plays for Guinea-Bissau. That’s just two fantastic players that have been ROBBED by bigger countries. It’s an utter disgrace that certain players, and I include all players, who don’t share a genetic link or a bloodline claim to a country can play for it. Deco for instance should’ve never been allowed to play for Portugal and neither should’ve Diego Costa been able to play for Spain. It’s utter nonsense.
Alex made it easy to understand, but I will develop a little bit, and more interesting than bullshit above my comment... Most of French immigrants or with immigrant background live in the suburbs of big cities (banlieues in French, which means litteraly suburbs but has generally a negative connotation here in France, yet some banlieues are very rich in the west of Paris for example). There, football is by far the most popular sport, and the easiest way to get out (legally 😉) of their bad social condition, with also show-business (cinema, humor, music...). That's why you find an oveerrepresentation of non-Caucasian people in this team, but you have to put in mind that non-Caucasian are pretty much invisible in politics, research, medicine, big companies (no one leads a big company, except maybe the creator of Airness), theatre... On the contrary, you don't see all the French born players who plays for others countries : 14 in Algeria WC2014 (Mahrez, Feghouli, Brahimi...) , 9 in Tunisia WC 2018 (Hassen, Ait Bennasser, Khazri...) , 8 in Sénégal WC 2018 (Koulibaly, Moussa Sow...) or 7 in Morocco WC 2018 (Benatia, Belhanda...) , and we can add Aubameyang, Pepe, Willy Boly... Like in South Africa where football team is Black and Rugby team is (mostly) white, as in France actually!
yep, our biggest players, are all from the working classes, since the 30's and professionalism, being a country of immigration since the end of the 19th century, the majority of them were children of immigrants, like Raymond Kopa (Poland), Michel Platini (Italy) or Zinedine Zidane (Algeria) . In France we are used to it, it's a problem for others, generally, at each world cup, from people who don't care about football in normal times and few guys (even in France) who use the National French team for political purposes.
How about talk football about Malaysia football? Like about JDT
How about the academies in England?
It's called South Hampton
kanabalize yeah that’s why England have so much silver... oh wait. Get over it mate, English players are overrated because of the marketing of their league. And yes, the PL isn’t the best, only the most marketed league.
@Green Mills Team for team - id say La Liga is the best. If you look at the tactical aspect and the technically aspect. Even the small teams can out play Real and Barcelona. So its a much more competative league...but the last year we have seen a switch from spanish team in the finals of european cups to english teams. But id still say La Liga is by a notch better than PL. With that said Liverpool must be the best team right now, worldwide.
@@theoneaboveall6751 it definitely is. Only league where a bottom placed team can beat a top team at any given time. It doesn't look like that because liverpool are so good right now, but it is one of the most unpredictable leagues.
@@Josstick team for team? No, la liga isnt better. It only looks like that because Barca and madrid were shit last season. The PL is better.
So french people, you should thank to our fellow Romanian, if he didn't founded the academy, you would suck at football today.
4:35 Disrespecting Trezeguet like that
When are you gonna make a video Real Madrid's youth academy? It's only like the biggest in Europe or something.
@manny Like I said, It's one of the largest ones in Europe. In fact, no other academy in Europe has so many graduates in the Top 5 European leagues at this moment.
Yeah their academy consists of small teams all over Europe When they get good enough Real Madrid will simply buy them
their academy is papa perezs deep pockets
@@tricheh2323 that's pretty dumb of you to say
@@coquio tell me how many academy players are in the first team
Ile de Frhrhrhrhrhrhrance, mais oui!
HAHAHAHAHA
Blue lockkk
Someone tag the mexican FA
The French are the best political manipulators, and also the same times, best football actors in the world. Simply put, Lionel Messi should have come from Clairefontaine, not La Masia.
Who will win? ... Claire Fontaine vs La Masia?
Brazil be like hold my beer 😂😂
Algeria are starting to copy the Clairefontaine model,they are creating regional centres models in the same principales as Clairefontaine
What name of the academy?
Benali Ahmed Chouaib that's good, algerians love football
France wouldn’t be anywhere without the immigrants that form the lower class and have kids that hone their talent by kicking it from dusk until dawn. African countries would be behemoths on the world stage if they had the proper infrastructure to nurture talents.
And African national teams would be worse if the players weren't formed and playing in Europe. Stop with this victimising rethoric, in the 80s and before France was already strong.
And there is a reason if they don't have proper infrastructure. Even with the subventions of the FIFA the African federations aren't able to do it.
with "if", I too can remake the world they tried and failed in the 90's in west Africa, too much corruption in Africa and in the World of Football.
Ez mögött is a székelyek vannak
Why can't something like this be set up in India
Se sedation all
Meanwhile Brazilians are doing samba
♪♪ Cuz this is Africa! ♪♪
Have French system, big population and import millions of Africans, profit.
@@gordusmaximus4990 That's how It is
@@gordusmaximus4990 call them "one of Our own"
@@danio6704 They're from French colonies. Also the French president loves the spread of French influence all over the world. England is also the same. They have a lot of players from their former colonies. Same thing with Netherlands, they have a lot of surinames players which were their former colony, Portugal is also the same, with a lot of black players from Angola and Mozambique. I think you need to just get over it because they're pretty much one of their own.
@@danio6704 And if you wanna take it further, look at countries like Argentina. Most of their population are mestizos meaning they have European/Spanish decent. But no one says "oh they're just a bunch of spaniards". Brazil also have a lot of people with Portuguese/Iberian descent. You get my point?
Speeed and power😂😂😂. The editor is borrowing from the orangutan’s philosophy.