Despite a dark season for Real Madrid, closed with “zero tituli” (as José Mourinho would say, that is to say the number one suspect to sit on the Madrid bench next year), Florentino Pérez’s club can smile when looking to the future. Because the youth sector, this year too, has proved to be one of the most successful and productive in the world. Certainly the best in Europe. La Fábrica, as it is called, has obtained extremely important results in this season too: in 2025, as many as 13 teams from Real’s youth academy had won their respective championships, surpassing the record of 12 of the 2022/2023 season; this time, instead, the Juvenil A team (the Primavera, according to the Italian age categories) won a historic Treble, winning its own regional championship (13 points ahead of Atletico Madrid), the Youth League and the Copa de Campeones Juvenil, beating Barcelona 4-1 in the final. Good news also comes from Real Madrid Castilla (the affiliate team), which has qualified for the playoffs and is aiming for promotion to the Segunda División (the Spanish second division).
Results of this kind can only come from great planning and from great trust towards one’s own youth sector. Going by the table, at least the one drawn up according to the data collected by Transfermarkt, Real Madrid has one of the most valuable Academies in the world (981 million euros). The fourth, to be precise, after that of Barcelona, that of Chelsea and that of Manchester City. A youth sector that, on a par with the blaugrana Masía, has been able over the years to bring several talents into the first team. In the past, legends such as Hierro, Casillas and Raul passed through La Fábrica, while Real’s future coach will be able to start again from players like Frán García, Lucás Vasquez, Carvajal, Frán Gonzalez, Thiago Pitarch and Gonzalo.
The importance of such a highly competitive youth sector has not, however, been limited only to the pool of players. The Castilla, for example, has been the training ground of many coaches, who before arriving in the first team cut their teeth in the minor leagues. One example above all was Zinédine Zidane, who after a year of apprenticeship was promoted to the first team, winning three Champions Leagues in a row. Or Arbeloa, called up in January to replace Xabi Alonso. For Real Madrid, therefore, the youth sector is not a simple bridge towards the first team. But something more, which makes it, not by chance, one of the most successful and productive in the world.