German initiative takes root

By Svend Frandsen

Producing talents
The senior national team excelled in reaching the FIFA World Cup final against Brazil back in July - and it is no surprise that Germany's football authorities are now looking to ensure that this proud footballing nation continues to produce the talents who will eventually will take over from the likes of Oliver Kahn and his colleagues.

Huge programme
While coach Rudi Völler and his men were still trying to recuperate from a hot summer in Korea/Japan, an expanded talent programme was launched in August, with football activities taking place at no less than 390 bases distributed throughout the country.

Management priority
Some 22,000 boys and girls aged between eleven and 17 are set to benefit from the project which, according to DFB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, has been labelled as "a management priority". According to Mr Mayer-Vorfelder, the extensive project is a way of following up on the World Cup adventure. "It's important that we don't rest on our laurels now to enjoy the success we have achieved. It's our intention to make the talent programme a priority in our agenda, and in that way, we can make the programme grow to a size which is seen nowhere else in the world, and will help us confirm our success in the future," said the charismatic president.

No slip-ups allowed
The project is designed to make sure that that youngsters such as World Cup stalwarts Christoph Metzfelder or Miroslav Klose, who made the switch to professional clubs very late in their career, do not slip through the system. Consequently, players between 14 and 15, who are still not playing in a professional club, will continue to be slowly groomed within the talent project. In addition, the talent programme also envisages that, in addition to club training, the most gifted youngsters will be invited once a week for football practise at the various bases.

€10m invested
The German FA are set to invest no less than €10m into the project, and have recruited 1,200 coaches who will act as coaches and scouts in the regional sections. In addition, 29 full-time base co-ordinators have been hired to liase with the regional organisations, to ensure that both centres operate with a uniform training philosophy.

Key role for base-co-ordinators
Consequently, the base co-ordinators will claim a key role in the whole talent project set-up, a fact which is also recognised by Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder. "The possible success of this project will mainly depend on the base-co-ordinators and their ability to liase with the regional centres," he said. The leader of the whole talent project, Jörg Daniel, is, however, extremely confident that the project will turn into a gigantic success. "The talent project has been very precisely co-ordinated with our junior football structure, and therefore it will be very effective," he said.