We've been to France before on our wonderkid factories series, looking at both Lyon and Le Havre, but both of those are official clubs. The academy we're looking at today is simply a training facility for the elite of French football.
However, it's been so good in producing homegrown talent, that some have gone as far as crediting it for the success of the French national team and that without it the country would still be devoid of silverware, as it was before Clairefontaine's inception.
In the first 30 years of international football, France were completely fruitless in their endeavours to win a major trophy which was brought into sharp focus by the success of their neighbours Germany and Italy. Then in the 1960's both England and Spain enjoyed tournament wins and the French were the last of the major European countries to be left without a big win.
In 1976, the President of the French Football Federation (FFF), Fernand Sastre, decided that he wanted to create a national football centre in an attempt to bridge the gap between Les Bleus and the rest of Europe. His vision was left in the hands of Stefan Kovacs who wanted to base the facility on the Romanian communist training centres that he was inspired by.
Before building began, France won its first major trophy with the 1984 European Championships and then just a year later the FFF decided on Clairefontaine as the base for the new facility. The building was finished in 1988 and then the real French revolution began.
The facility was named after Sastre but is just known as INF Clairefontaine and young talented players began to flock to its ranks. The players only spend a brief time there working on their skills between the ages of 13-15 whilst top clubs from around France monitor their progress in the hopes of signing a few.
Clairefontaine immediately began to pay dividends pushing out a host of talented players who would go on to become internationals. It also became the hub for the national team during the 1998 World Cup in France which the hosts would go on to win for the very first time. In fact they would win back-to-back major tournaments by claiming Euro 2000 just two years later.
France have reached three World Cup finals since the facility was finished in 1988, winning two. They've also won a European Championship, having finished runners up in 2016, and added two Confederations Cup wins and a Nations League title.
Les Bleus have become a consistent force in international football (barring the occasional mutiny) and many of the key players in that success have come from INF. That list of players includes Nicolas Anelka, Abou Diaby,
Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry, William Gallas, Louis Saha,
Olivier Giroud, Jimmy Briand, Hatem Ben Arfa and
Blaise Matuidi.
There is no doubting that Clairefontaine has had a huge impact on French football but also African football with the academy providing some top players to French speaking African countries. That list of players includes Yacine Brahimi, Sebastien Basssong, Kevin Bru, Medhi Benatia and Hannibal Mejbri. It's also worth noting that Portugal and Borussia Dortmund star Raphael Guerreiro also came through the ranks at the academy.
As always we've also managed to find three players who could be soon to join the ranks of star players we've mentioned above:
Adrien Moncet (Goalkeeper)
Moncet is only 17 and now finds himself playing for Dijon's B team in the 5th tier. He was previously at Le Havre which we know from covering it before on the website is a very good academy and he's featured in the squad for both France's U16's and U17's.
Hubert Mbuyi-Muamba (Centre Back)
Muamba is just 18 and until this season was in the youth ranks at PSG before he was picked up by Hoffenheim in the summer. He's yet to feature in the French setup but he has joint nationality with the DR Congo and so could make an international appearance soon.
Pierre-Emmanuel Ekwah Elimby (Defensive MIdfielder)
Ekwah is only 19 but has already made two separate transfers with money involved. He moved to Nantes after leaving Clairefontaine but was quickly snapped up by Chelsea for £1.8 million before being sold to their London rivals West Ham for £1.26 million this season. He's made a good impression for the Hammers, featuring regularly for their U23's in PL2 and making two appearances in the EFL Trophy.
