Introduction to the Crisis in German Football
The opportunities for German men at the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada are exciting, but the long-term future of football in Germany is heading in the wrong direction. The country has lost almost 6,000 U19 and U17 teams since 2006. The German Football Association (DFB) is urging reforms, led by the head of youth football, Hannes Wolf.
The Need for Reforms
"We have to make sure that there is no pseudo-participation, but young people are really involved," said Wolf recently at a DFB Youth Football Conference. "If you are already sitting in the U13s on the bench and are not good enough to be involved in your hobby, I would also say to my children that they should do something else." The conference, which was organized by the DFB campus in Frankfurt, brought together 220 participants from the 21 regional associations in Germany to create a plan to make football more attractive to young people.
Modernizing Football
"Football has to modernize in order to remain attractive for young people in the future," said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. "Even if we currently have long waiting lists in the clubs in many cities, it is no longer a matter of course that children play football and stay with the clubs as young people." In England, after the pandemic, there was an increase in children aged 5 to 16 who played the game, but a recent survey showed a decline in the age group from 16 to 24 between 2015 and 2023.
New Ideas and Concepts
Wolf wants more training concepts to be open to creative ideas to make more children play. One idea is to play several games on full-size parking spaces, street football, or cage football across the country. The rise of digital platforms plays a role in young people dropping out, but also the costs for playing organized football and dealing with high expectations and intensive planning of youth football.
Herring and Format Changes
The head of the Academy of Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Broich, said that the youth ball would be "a big cultural problem" for the country. Gerd Thomas, chairman of the team in the lower league Internationale Berlin, recently wrote that "turbo capitalism also finds its way into youth football and that the development of young people has dubious ways". Malte Boven, a youth football coach in Hamburg, believes that the age group of middle to late teenagers, which are often on the coast of professionalism, was neglected in the 2019 reforms, which focused on younger age groups.
Understanding the Problem
Boven believes that a factor to focus on why many teenagers leave football is to miss the broader selection of problems in the game. He believes how young people think about the game, and that everyone who deals with the development had to. "I think the ‘why’ and the ‘how’, how we want to play the game, have just become more central to the players in recent years," Boven said. "There is a social difference in the generations."
Reforms Make Sense, but Will Take Time
Boven is positive about the proposed DFB reforms, but realizes that a result-oriented culture in youth football remains a problem. "The participation of appearance is a reality when it comes to gaining in youth football, especially in amateur clubs. Then it is a pseudo-division of all participating players because I do not give them the opportunity to participate in the form of the game," said Boven. "You have to convey maximum trust and trust that you can do that you deserve to play in the club, that there is a reason why you wear this jersey."
Conclusion
After all, Boven and many other coaches believe: "Humanity is the basis of performance." The result of the proposed reforms should influence the next generation of footballers. Perhaps, however, it is more than anything else the influence and the attitude of the professional game that needs more attention. Because as the author James Clear said: "They do not rise to the level of their goals. They fall at the level of their systems."
