By Mike Woitalla
Bayern Munich, Germany’s richest and most successful club, buys international stars (eg Franck Ribery and ArjenRobben) and top domestic talent (eg Manuel Neuer and Mario Gomez) — but its starting lineup usually includes four or five homegrown players.
“Every time Bayern has been very successful it’s had a lot of players from its youth program,” says Director of Sport Christian Nerlinger, who himself joined FCBayern as a 14-year-old and won league titles and the UEFA Cup with Bayern in the 1990s. “They have a special identification with the club.”
The club spends about 5 millioneuro ($6.5 million) a year on its youth program.
“It is not a question of budget,” says FC Bayern President Uli Hoeness. “If we need 5 million,that’s OK. If we need 7 million, we will do it. Because you cannot give a limit. You spend what is necessary. One year 4 million, next year 6 or 7 million.”
Last year, Bayernsold Munich-born Mehmet Ekici, who joined the club at age 8, to Werder Bremen for 5 million euros — but Hoeness insists the youth program’s focus is on boosting the first team.
“We are not a selling club,” Hoeness says. “Our aim is always to invest money for players who can play for Bayern. If sometimes you can sell a player like Mehmet Ekicifor 5 million – OK, that’s fantastic, it pays for one full year the academy.”
In Part 2* of our interview with Werner Kern, the head of the BayernMunich youth program shares more details about the club’s approach to youth soccer. …
SA: How do you want your coaches to behave on the sidelines during games?
WERNER KERN: It’s OK for them to give some instructions from the sidelines. But it should always be positive and constructive — and it shouldn’t be constant. If it’sconstant it will make the players self-conscious and nervous.
We want coaches to help, but not disturb. To be supportive, to build players up, but also to point out when they do somethingwrong. …
Starting at U-14, U-15, we do video analysis with the players.
SA: What value is placed on winning at the youth level?
WERNER KERN:It’s a double-edged sword. If you want to become good, you need to learn how to win. Winning does play a role, but not winning at all costs.
You’ll find another club that hasmany more youth national team players than we do, because they “hire and fire.” They get physically strong players so they win — they’re born in January or February — they help theteam win, and then they get tossed out the next season. We don’t do that.
I’m totally against cutting and recruiting at the youth level to win games. I say, we must alwayslook, does that player have a specific potential to become a special player or doesn’t he?
Another point is also important. You always need a couple of players who are physicallystrong who can help the others win. It’s not only about winning, it’s about experiences of success. If you lose every game then you think, “There’s something wrong withme.” You do need to win, but not at all costs. We judge the youth teams on how they’re playing soccer and on if they’re ultimately producing players for our first team.
For example,at the U-15 level — an age group where players are going through growth spurts. You’ve got really little players and ones who are like full-grown men. We support and protect the small playerswho might be at disadvantage but have the potential to become great players, like Philipp Lahm [the 5-foot-7 outside back who captains Germany and Bayern].
SA:It’s a common held belief that free play, or street soccer, is a key to the development of exceptional players. …
WERNER KERN: It used to be like that – thatkids would come home from school and play with friends. But the whole infrastructure has changed. There’s almost no unorganized soccer. Now the kids have a longer school day. The school is sodemanding that they don’t have time play streets or in the park.
That’s what prompted us to invest in development. That’s why we coordinated with the schools that theyhave soccer twice a week at school.
SA: Is it a concern that kids only play supervised soccer?
WERNER KERN: That depends. I believe creativity grows out offreedom. That’s true. But we must also link creativity with the things that are necessary to play successfully. I, for instance, require that players dribble, but in offensive. We don’twant players to dribble in front of their own goal and lose the ball, but nor do we want them to boot the ball aimlessly up field.
We want them to take chances, to dare to dribble, but inthe right situations. There are many small practice games that help them comprehend when to dribble and when to pass. They get many chances to dribble and to figure out the right time.
SA: What’s Bayern Munich’s playing style philosophy?
WERNER KERN: We want to play active soccer. We want to defend high and we want to possess the ball asmuch as possible because we believe that we learn and improve when we possess the ball a lot. When you’re chasing the ball all the time you’re not learning a lot.
You must, ofcourse, learn the elements of defense, but we want to act not react.
*(Read Part 1 of the interview with Werner Kern
Kern makes it sound so simple. The one big difference is that FC Bayern provides the resources to produce one of the best youth soccer academy’s in the world.
Wow! Bayern spends more on its youth training than an MLS teams payrole.
Alot of money isnt needed in the American system, but it would take dedicated individuals with specific qualifications. Ex; Coaches that are trained in the right philosophy as coaches as well as certified staff members to educate the youth so they still graduate high school, attend college etc. This should be relatively cheap. A substantial amount does not need to be spent on facilities and equipment. Unfortunately in America we reward scouts more then coaches and ignore a large population of our players because of economics.An academy team does not need much money, it just needs Rigor, Strong work ethic and Pride.