A study by CIES Football Observatory has found that Isuzu UTE A-League side Adelaide United ranks number one worldwide for percentage of minutes played by Under-19 players in the last 12 months.
The Reds came in first in the Under-19 category, second for Under-20 players and 20th for Under-21 players across 61 leagues worldwide.
It is a testament to the production line of talent that continues to churn out young stars in South Australia, headlined by Nestory Irankunda, who will join Bayern Munich at the end of the season, as well as the likes of Jonny Yull, Luka Jovanovic and Musa Toure among others.
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Meanwhile, Joe Gauci (Aston Villa), Steven Hall (Brighton), Mohamed Toure (Reims), Kusini Yengi (Portsmouth) and Alexandar Popovic (Gwangju FC) have all graduated to new pastures in previous seasons.
Between 3 April, 2023 and 2 April, 2024, 14.9% of minutes at Adelaide United were played by under-19 players, seeing them come in ahead of Serbian side FK IMT at 11.6%, while European giants AFC Ajax (6th) and FC Barcelona (11th) both feature in the top 15.
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In that same period, 21.9% of minutes were played by under-20 players, with only Slovakian outfit MŠK Žilina able to better that figure.
Irankunda in particular has been a shining light since emerging from the Adelaide United academy. This week, the 18-year-old became the youngest player ever to score an Isuzu UTE A-League hat-trick, breaking the previous record set by fellow Adelaide product Nathan Burns in 2007.
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The electric forward ranks third all-time for most games played aged 19 or under, while no player has scored more goals than his 14 in the same age bracket.
“The players come with a basic foundation of football. They start from that age of 12, 13, 14, 15. It’s not a magical formula,” Adelaide United Head of Youth Football Airton Andrioli told aleagues.com.au last year.
“It’s just people with the right mentality who recognise the different stages of the players and the development required. They have an advantage over other players coming from the outside. The majority of players we bring into the senior, U20 or reserves program, they come from the NTC underpinning program
“When we look to bring players up to our level to the Adelaide United youth program, we look at players with a sound technical base. When you see a boy like Nestory, some players have that naturally. That gift of understanding and reading the game.
“Being street smart. You don’t see that a lot in Australian players. That’s why Nestory from the start had that kind of thing.
“… With Nestor, it was easy because he had that in himself. He just needed the other side of things – a bit more education and understanding of structures and the discipline of football.
“The fundamentals are important to me because if you have that as a starting point, you can develop all the other attributes. We don’t say many young boys who have that natural ability to do things without looking, to do things in more of a street way. Not a lot of that in Australia.”
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