Youth Academies

The successful system of “Youth Academies” was introduced to the Bundesliga in 2001 and Bundesliga 2 in 2002. Since then, the Licensing Regulations have obliged the 36 professional clubs to maintain professional youth organisations. To date, the clubs have invested around €1.8 billion in their academies. Each season, they train an average of around 5,500 young talents across all age groups. Priority is also given to supporting their academic and advanced training as best as possible.

Building on the regular enhancements that were already taking place, the DFL introduced a new methodology for the analysis, quality assurance and further development of the academies in cooperation with the DFB in summer 2019 with the aim of optimising its support. Among other things, the goal of this methodology is to coordinate all measures concerning the academies optimally using a holistic approach in order to achieve an even higher standard.