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NewsDay

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German sports academy with a difference

Sport
Frankfurt may not be a familiar name to most Zimbabwean football fans

Frankfurt may not be a familiar name to most Zimbabwean football fans but a visit to the modest Bundesliga club’s Youth Academy yesterday proved that while they may to command as much popularity as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund they have played a huge role in the recent success of German football.

REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO IN FRANFURT, GERMANY EINTRACHT

Germany international Marko Marin, who is currently playing at Spanish side Seville, on loan from English giants Chelsea, is the best-known recent graduate of Frankfurt’s academy. The Eintracht Frankfurt Academy director of Youth Armin Kraaz, who has headed up the academy for the last 10 years, told local journalists currently on a tour of the country that Germany’s rise in world football was as a result of sound grassroots development structures.

“The Youth Academy is very important to the professional club. It’s not only important for the Eintracht Frankfurt senior team but also for German football. “All German clubs have their professional centres and academies to produce very good young players for the teams and at the end of the day it is the German national team which ends up having very good players.

“Our scouts go out to look for the most naturally gifted nine and 10-year-olds, regardless of their physical attributes. When they arrive at the academy, work in the gym to build up strength doesn’t usually begin until they’re at least 16. 12 years ago in 2001 DFL and DFB founded these football academies and from there on it has been a success story,” he said.

The academy which was completed in 2010 offers world class facilities and high-quality coaching to youngsters from the Under-10 category to the Under19 level and also boast of facilities for other sports such as tennis, boxing, athletics, hockey, handball, basketball amongst others. The Bundesliga clubs now invest around 100m euros per year in their academies, and there is close scrutiny from the German Football Association (DFB).

Every three years, the DFB’s inspectors arrive at each Bundesliga club to put their academies to the test. The clubs have to prove they can run their academies well before being able to obtain a licence from the DFB.

Zimbabwean sports journalists from various local media houses both press and electronic yesterday got an opportunity to tour the club’s world class facilities which have groomed several household names in German football.

The tour of the club’s facilities which was facilitated by SuperSport and Frankfurt-based DFL Sports Enterprises proved to be an eye opener. During the 2012-13 season, the Bundesliga confirmed its position as the best-attended league in the world, with an average crowd of more than 44,000. Frankfurt themselves had an average home attendance of 40,000 even when they were in the second division last season.

German football fans provide a valuable lesson for Zimbabwean fans as they are very well organised in backing their team. For instance Frankfurt has a membership of over 25000 fans who make monthly contributions to ensure the smooth running of the club. Frankfurt seems to encapsulate the way German football has changed since 2000. There has been an emphasis on youth, and on technical ability over brute force. The supporters are at the heart of the club, and it is being run with financial discipline.

The tour will see local media personnel attending workshops and conduct interviews with Bundesliga officials, attend two Bundesliga matches and get a view of how the Bundesliga has become a world class brand.