Newsroom
Cyprus is near the bottom of the international table when it comes to giving young academy players a route into senior football, according to new figures from the CIES Football Observatory. Players developed by their own clubs’ academies have received just 4.4% of all available playing time in the Cypriot league so far this season, putting Cyprus second from last among the 50 leagues examined.
The figure is 8.3 percentage points below the average recorded across the competitions included in the CIES study. Only Turkey has given club-trained players a smaller share of playing time, leaving Cyprus close to the bottom of the table when it comes to turning youth development into opportunities at senior level.
For a young footballer, the academy is supposed to be the beginning of a pathway towards professional football. Years of training, matches and development are ultimately meant to lead to the chance to compete for a place in the first team. The latest figures suggest that, in Cyprus, that final step remains difficult for many academy graduates.
The CIES research focuses on club-trained players, meaning footballers who have been developed within the youth system of the club they currently represent. Looking at their share of first-team minutes provides one way of measuring how much opportunity clubs are giving to players they have invested in developing themselves.
The numbers also raise a question that goes beyond league statistics: how can local talent develop if there are so few opportunities to play at the highest level? Academies can provide coaching, facilities and competition, but young players ultimately need first-team minutes to gain experience and establish themselves in professional football.
That makes the 4.4% figure significant not only for the players currently waiting for their opportunity, but also for the future pool of Cypriot footballers. With Cyprus ranking 49th out of the 50 leagues in the CIES study, the latest data provides a stark snapshot of the distance between developing young players and actually giving them a place in senior football.
