Paris 2nd, Manchester 8th – which cities produce the best footballers in the world?

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London over €1 billion 

The international break has just ended with attention firmly switching back to club football for the business end of the season. League titles will be won across the next few months while clubs will also be vying for prestigious European honours. This summer, however, will be massive for nations around the world with Euro 2024 taking place in Germany and the Copa America in the United States. Argentina are FIFA’s number one ranked side in the world and they’ll be aiming to retain their Copa America title. France, England, Belgium and Brazil complete the top five highest ranked countries in the world but which cities are producing the best footballers? Transfermarkt has crunched the data and analysed which cities have produced the players with the highest combined market value.

The top ten cities producing the best footballers in the world

Despite their inability to win a major honour in over 55 years, England are widely regarded as one of the best international teams with a plethora of world-class talent at their disposal. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that London is comfortably top for cities producing footballers with an eye-watering combined total market value of €1.6 billion from 2,708 players. Bukayo Saka is the most expensive footballer to hail from London at €130 million while Harry Kane and Declan Rice are valued at €110m.

Paris is another hotbed for talent with players born in the French capital combining for a market value of €688m – more than €900m less than London. PSG superstar Kylian Mbappé is the most valuable Parisian with the world’s joint-most valuable player worth €180m. Brazil has produced some of the best players in history with third-ranked city São Paulo the birthplace of Roberto Carlos and Robinho. Neymar, Casemiro and Oscar are the most famous players still playing from the most populous city in Brazil. 

Seven of the top ten cities are European with two other South American cities – Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro – joining São Paulo. While London is miles clear in first place, fellow English cities Manchester and Birmingham rank in the top ten. Stockport-born Phil Foden is included as Mancester’s most valuable player while Stourbridge-born Jude Bellingham is Bimingham’s jewel in their crown.

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