Football academy

A football academy is a sports school and performance center where football players are trained and educated. Many clubs in the professional sector maintain such academies for youth or junior teams, while national football associations in their academies usually also extend training to senior and coaching sectors.

Football academies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In Germany, the term football academy is not used uniformly and essentially includes the 54 DFB performance centers with the youth departments of all professional clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, which they are obliged to operate according to the DFB statutes. Borussia Dortmund, for example, maintains the BVB academy with the BVB youth center for players under the age of 18. At FC Bayern Munich , the new youth performance center u. a. Opened for the youth teams of the junior team as the FC Bayern Campus on August 1, 2017.

In 2017, the Austrian Football Association ( ÖFB) published comprehensive guidelines for the establishment of football academies for the promotion of young talent with the aim of improving the training of professional players. One of the most famous football academies in Austria is the Red Bull Academy , which opened in September 2014. Football academies have also been set up at the provincial level in Austria, such as the Burgenland Football Academy .

In Switzerland there are other organizational models for young talent centers, such as that of FC Luzern , whose Pilatus Academy is still affiliated with the Central Switzerland Football Academy .

European football clubs

Most clubs in the English Premier League run football academies, such as the Manchester United Academy and Liverpool with his Liverpool FC Academy . On the European continent is one of the most steady football academies for juniors the Cantera or cadre of Real Madrid .

National football academies

The football associations of various countries maintain central football academies which, in addition to youth work, are also responsible for courses for national teams and coach training. In Italy, the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano of the Italian Football Association has existed near Florence since 1958. The French Football Association has been running the Center technique national Fernand-Sastre near Paris since 1988 . Spain opened a similar center in 2007 with the Ciudad del Fútbol near Madrid. The DFB is currently planning its own football academy , which will be attached to its new headquarters in Frankfurt.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DFB regulations on the junior performance centers of the 36 professional clubs, according to dfb.de , accessed on October 29, 2017
2. ↑ BVB Academy for the Promotion of Young Talent, according to www.bvb.de , accessed on October 29, 2017
3. ↑ FC Bayern Campus at fcbayern.com , accessed on October 29, 2017
4. ↑ ÖFB guidelines ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. for football academies from May 15, 2017 
5. ↑ Red Bull Academy according to redbullsalzburg.at , accessed on 29.
6. ↑ Pilatus Young Talent Academy of FC Luzern, accessed on October 29, 2017
7. ↑ Central Switzerland Football Academy at FC Luzern, accessed on October 29, 2017
8. ↑ Real Madrid Junior Academy , accessed October 29, 2017
9. ↑ FIGC football center according to the association's website www.figc.it , accessed on October 29, 2017