A look at SC Freiburg’s academy cooperation club system
In my previous post “No more U8 academy football? A look at foundation phase football across Europe” I have looked at clubs scrapping some of their foundation phase age groups until U11/U12, their rationale behind it and the structures they have implemented.
Here I will further investigate what could be a potential alternative to foundation phase academy football with the aim of improving local football and its coaches thus developing as many players for as long as possible.
SC Freiburg’s situation
Freiburg faces a specific geographic challenge by bordering westward to France and southward to Switzerland limiting their potential talent pool. With a relatively moderate budget for a Bundesliga club they have put value on their academy and maximising its potential over the last two decades. One part plays their cooperation club system, which compared to other German clubs is quite fledged out with what it offers. SCF start their academy at U12s.
Having a look at the map Freiburg’s situation and limited talent pool becomes more apparent, with most population hubs outside of Freiburg being a 1 or 2 hour drive away, minimum.
The greater area of the city of Freiburg has a total population of 325k. In comparison the metropolitan area of Stuttgart has a total of 2.2 mil, Karlsruhe a total of 480k and the Rhein-Neckar area with Hoffenheim and Sandhausen a total of 1.45mil
In order to cast a wider net for potential talent the club has set up an extensive academy cooperation club network more than a decade ago with the idea of improving football in the region in and around Freiburg.
The cooperation clubs are each one of the biggest if not the biggest club in higher level youth football within their region, as in most cases they are the centre of small population hubs in this rather rural area of Germany. In 2018 french club SR Colmar has joined the ranks and further adds a region with 211k inhabitants to the list.
All of those clubs increase the potential talent pool for Freiburg significantly, however distances have to be taken into consideration. Freiburg is not able to sign a player from France until the age of 16 — therefore I wonder if there really is a point in said cooperation, as players could just move a 1 hour drive north to RC Strasbourg or even move nationally into a boarding program in France from the age of 15. It is certainly questionable if a top player would wait until 16 to join SCF on a permanent basis.
Nevertheless within Germany distances also play a part with some cooperation clubs, for example with Ravensburg. Freiburg is at least a one-way 2 hour drive away from Ravensburg. Therefore the club offers boarding or guest families from U16 onwards and only exceptions are signed beforehand.
Cooperation club agreements
Freiburg provides numerous benefits to their cooperation clubs and since recently also has a full-time coach managing their cooperation program, some benefits include:
- Weekly talent training from U10-U14 at the cooperation clubs for players from the local region
- Cooperation club coaches can intern at the academy at any time
- Sharing of concepts and know how in regards to coaching
- Regular exchange of information in regards to talent ID
- Regular trials at training and matchdays for players
- 2–3 yearly coperation club tournaments
- 2 yearly coaching workshops at the academy
SCF offers a thorough program where the goal becomes clear, it is not only about being able to sign the best players but to develop local football further by improving the level of coaches and players in the cooperation club regions.
Comparison to Athletic Bilbao and VfB Stuttgart
In my previous article I have mentioned both clubs a bit and would like to expand by comparing their models to the one that SCF offers.
Athletic obviously are in a different sphere when it comes to partner clubs in terms of their financial investment into local basque football. At the time of my visit in 2017 they had over 120 partner clubs with 1 full-time coordinator and more than 30 coaches and educators responsible for several partner clubs each who are all employed by Athletic. Those coaches will offer support to their designated clubs in a similar fashion that SCF offers by sharing and offering knowledge, leading talent trainings up to U12, putting on workshops and so on. Further however Athletic also incentivizes this program by offering financial aid for clubs when it comes to equipment or paying a compensation fee when a player from a cooperation club debuts in the U19, 2nd team or first team of Athletic. On top of that Athletic hosts 7 pre-academy development centres before the academy age groups starts at U10 mainly for U8-U9s with 2 weekly trainings next to club training. What Athletic asks in return is a right to first refusal of all players within their cooperation club network, so that another academy for example Real Sociedad are unable to sign them first.
The first academy age group of VfB Stuttgart has for several years been the U11s and the club has recently announced that they will implement a significant change at the start of the next season 20/21. Not only will VfB increase the number of their regional scouts from 2 to 12, they will also cooperate with 5 regional clubs (at a similar level as SCFs) in a distance of 120km around Stuttgart. A full-time employee will manage this relation in a similar fashion to what SCF offers.
All in all it becomes clear that more and more clubs see such a concept as a viable option for long-term talent development. However in Germany the clubs that I have mentioned are still in the minority and there is only a handful who start at U11 or U12. Further what has to be taken into consideration in England as pointed out by Jonathan Henderson, is that according to EPPP rules clubs are required to start at U9s, so even if they would want to change something they are at the current state not able to. It would mean dropping out of the academy system and therefore being cut of funding and compensation fees for players leaving to an academy — a step which is simply not viable.
On this blog I will share my thoughts about strategy, talent development, scouting and more in football. Follow me on twitter for more posts and updates.