#5 Leicester City
Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League victory in the 2015-16 season may have come across as a fluke or a once-in-a-lifetime event but nothing could be further from the truth. Leicester are one of the best-run clubs in the world. The season before they won the league, they were nearly relegated. This led to the club re-thinking how they could operate intelligently given their financial constraints. The club’s owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who tragically passed away in 2018, increased his involvement in the club and to this day his son remains an active chairman of the club. Leicester City have one of the best scouting teams in the country. The club picked up N’Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy, and Riyad Mahrez from the second division in France and England for a minimal amount. Kante, Mahrez and Danny Drinkwater were later sold for more than £ 135 million. Leicester are currently second in the league following a similar pattern. Talented youngsters like Ben Chilwell and James Maddison are at the heart of their resurgence led by the able Brendan Rodgers.
#4 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund are a well-known club but Die Schwarzgelben nearly went bankrupt in 2003. This incident led to the club being restructured from top to bottom as well as setting certain principles and policies as the guidelines for the club to follow. Dortmund are aware that they cannot compete financially with Bayern Munich, yet since 2009, Dortmund have won the league twice, won various domestic cups and also made the Champions League final. Dortmund have a vibrant environment to develop young players. The scouting team and executive board are constantly looking for new and exciting talents to sign. From Reinhard Rauball, Hans Joachim Watzke and Michael Zorc, the board is extremely cohesive and supportive. The list of talents is endless. Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, and Robert Lewandowski are just a few of such youngsters who have made it big. Despite their constraints, Dortmund won two consecutive league titles from 2010-11 to 2011-12 with an exciting and youthful team comprising of largely unknown names. Their business model is equally successful with the club later selling these youngsters for huge profits. Dortmund are slowly becoming more capable in the transfer market but the policy remains the same. They only sign players who they know can help the team and do not sign players based on their name or reputation.
#3 Red Bull Football Project
The Red Bull Football Project comprises of various clubs from different countries like Germany, Austria, the United States and even Ghana. Funded by the Austrian beverage giant, Red Bull’s sides came into existence only recently but have since been on a steady path to dominating their respective leagues. Another project with an excellent scouting system, these Red Bull sides have a history of finding prospects and grooming them. The operation itself enables such prospects to move to a higher level within the system such as from Salzburg to Leipzig. Director Ralf Rangnick has had an important role to play in this and Red Bull hire young and innovative managers for their projects. Julian Nagelsmann currently manages Leipzig and could break the two-team monopoly of the Bundesliga. The Red Bull sporting project has brought quick success and looks set to achieve more in this decade.
#2 The City Group
City group are a group owned and funded by the Abu Dhabi United Group. Their first project was Manchester City, who received a massive injection of cash and since being bought in 2008, have been one of the most successful clubs in the Premier League. City’s success has come from a financial model rather than scouting. Despite the exorbitant amounts of money available at their disposal, the executives at City still need to spend this appropriately to guarantee success. Their recent investments also include New York City FC, Mumbai City FC and Melbourne City. The City group has also developed a group of young coaches who are being readied to take over at the various clubs in the group in the future. Mikel Arteta and Giovanni van Bronckhorst are two such coaches. Overall, the City group is an effective and well-coordinated group focused on short term success but also laying a platform for the long-term future of the football clubs.
#1 Ajax Amsterdam
Ajax Amsterdam are historically one of the biggest clubs in the world. While their European dominance may have ended, they remain the best run club in the world. The reason for this is that Ajax have not compromised on the core principles of Cruyff and beautiful football despite the massive pressure to do so. Everything at Ajax is built in such a way so as to ensure that Cruyff’s ideals are enshrined in the side. Ajax have a fantastic youth set-up which is a conveyor belt of talent. In the past two decades alone, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Toby Alderweireld and Luis Suarez are just some of the few players who have gone on to become world-class players. Ajax is run by people who know the club. Former players Marc Overmars and Edwin van der Sar are executives while the coaches are also expected to instill strong values and traditions in their sides. Ajax are an example of success without compromising on core beliefs.
Also read: Why the Ajax Academy is one of the best in the world
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