10 Years Of German Academy Training.pdf

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Fountain of youth In the last tens years the academies have ensured
that a growing number of young players flooded into the
Bundesliga. Coaches believe in these technically and tactically
perfectly trained young talents. The average age of all players
deployed in the Bundesliga has decreased by 1.32 years since the
2001-02 season. Alongside this the percentage of German players
in the professional game has climbed. Since the vast majority
of players at academies are from Germany, the choice of talented
young German players has grown correspondingly. In 2002-03, a
mere 50% of all Bundesliga players were German. This figure now
stands at 57% and even at 71% in the Bundesliga 2. Just how good
the education provided by the academies is, can be seen when you
take a look at the German FA’s squad of the national teams. From
the under-age youth teams right through to the senior squad, the
overwhelming majority of players are (or have been) trained at an
academy.
Average age of Bundesliga players since 2001/2002
in years
28
27
27.09
27.12
26.65
26.55
26.53
26.12
26.24
26.23
26
25.73
25.77
25
2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011