10 Years Of German Academy Training.pdf
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8<br />
The beginning Foundation of Academies<br />
An important step towards<br />
a successful future<br />
The bitter first-round defeat at EURO 2000 was the key moment: at the turn of the millennium <strong>German</strong> football stared<br />
disaster in the face – it completely lacked a professional foundation. What followed was a revolution in youth development,<br />
which, on the tenth anniversary of the academies, is now globally recognised as the role model for success.<br />
It was immediately following EURO<br />
2000 and the disappointing performance<br />
of the national team that the<br />
clubs of the Bundesliga and the <strong>German</strong><br />
Football Association (DFB) called things<br />
to an emergency halt. The development<br />
and support of young and highly talented<br />
players had to be comprehensively renewed.<br />
The youth work of the then-World<br />
and European champions France at their<br />
centre at Clairefontaine served as a particularly<br />
strong model and guide. A task<br />
force, whose job it was to think outside<br />
the box and come up with a concept for the<br />
<strong>German</strong> development of young talents,<br />
was quickly set up. Chairman of the League<br />
Committee Gerhard Mayer- Vorfelder,<br />
President of the <strong>German</strong> Football Association<br />
(DFB) since 2001, made it a matter for<br />
decision at management level. The promotion<br />
of young talent lay right at the top of<br />
the agenda of the President of the newlyfounded<br />
League Association, Werner<br />
Hackmann. The DFB launched a programme<br />
to promote talent and invested<br />
millions in basic training and fee-based<br />
coaches. On 28 February 2011 the League<br />
Association decided on the compulsory<br />
introduction of youth academies for all<br />
18 Bundesliga clubs. In fact, establishing<br />
and running such an academy was added<br />
to the list of club licensing parameters.<br />
At the outset, the current Chairman<br />
of the Academies Committee, Andreas<br />
Rettig, who led the project in its opening<br />
phase from 2001 to 2002, had a lot of<br />
persuading to do. It was clear that <strong>German</strong><br />
professional football had to introduce an<br />
entirely new concept of education for supporting<br />
the clubs in the development of<br />
talent. It wasn’t about a standardization<br />
of certain playing styles, as is customary<br />
in the Netherlands. Indeed, creating the<br />
kind of infrastructure where children and
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