Prioritising Home-grown Talent: FC Schalke 04’s Knappenschmiede Academy
It is almost impossible to ignore German football’s ability to produce the next generation of stars in the game. Young footballers are produced and nurtured throughout the country, especially in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Gelsenkirchen, home to the seven-time German champions and five-time DFB-Pokal winners, FC Schalke 04. Whose youth academy is locally known as the Knappenschmiede.
As stated in an article by MailOnline back in 2013, the Gelsenkirchen club have adopted a strategy which aims to develop and promote one player from each academy age group for a career at the top level of German football. Resulting in the recent success of Julian Draxler and Max Meyer, who at the ripe ages of 22 and 20 years old, have already represented their country at the highest level. In fact, Julian Draxler was part of the German side who won the 2014 World Cup. Alongside, fellow Schalke academy graduates, Benedkt Howedes, Manuel Neuer and Mesut Ozil.
Whilst proving their worth on the international stage, products of the academy have brought great success at club level. Four academy products were present in the final of the 2010/11 DFB Cup, which saw Schalke victorious with a 5-0 win against MSV Duisburg. More recently, in the 2013/14 campaign, eight home-grown talents started Schalke’s Champions League last-16 encounter against Real Madrid. Those players; Ralf Fahrmann, Tim Hoogland, Benedikt Howedes, Sead Kolasinac, Kaan Ayhan, Joel Matip, Max Meyer and Julian Draxler.
Attention to detail is given to each youth player throughout their rise through the ranks of the Knappenschmiede. With the sole aim of the academy, to progress each talent towards the clubs first team. According to the BBC, Schalke adopt a five point plan strategy with each academy player;
1. Technique, Pressure, Space, Time.
2. Tactics, Game Intelligence.
3. Athletics, Speed.
4. Mental Strength.
5. Team Ethic, “We” is more important than “I”.
Just before the 2011/12 season, the academy went through a major restructure in order to achieve their sole aim. Two divisions now exist in the structure of the academy, U9s to U15s and U16s to U23s. Each division is given special training plans which are enforced by the coaches, so they can successfully educate and train players to operate at the highest possible level.
The latter division marks the transition into competitive sport. The academy coaches hold the finest qualifications and specialise in every department of the game. Additionally, youth players in the U16s to U23s division of the academy are trained by five fully qualified football coaches, and four DFB ‘A’ licence holders. Furthermore, each team competes in the highest league possible.
More than £100 million of talent has emerged from Schalke’s academy over the years. However, the production line continues to produce top talent, as Leroy Sane becomes the latest high-profile academy graduate to make some noise, with a reported £37 million transfer to Manchester City, potentially rising to £46.5 million with performance-related add-ons.
After a personal visit to Gelsenkirchen, and the Knappenschmiede headquarters in the summer of 2015. It is clearly evident that the club take grassroots football very seriously. In a day and age where many local prospects struggle to get a chance in the first team, it is certainly a refreshing change to see the herds of talent being fed through the ranks at Schalke. Somehow, I don’t think Leroy Sane will be the last Knappenschmiede academy graduate to make a statement on football’s global stage. Here’s to the future!
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References:
- Photo 1: http://zzapolowy.com/tag/leon-goretzka/
- Photo 2: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Julian_Draxler_%26_Mesut_Özil_-_The_2014_FIFA_World_Cup_Final_-_140713-9489-jikatu_(14463218349).jpg
- Photo 3: http://m.goal.com/s/en-gb/news/3275/bundesliga/2015/11/07/17073262/natural-born-superstar-liverpool-target-sane-set-to-become?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/46BMfzSPXlN9gdjrwkWfS6G/is-schalke-the-new-ajax-academy-of-stars
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2471450/The-football-factory-An-insight-Schalkes-production-line-young-German-talent.html
