Championships Are Not the Only Measure of Success — Dortmund Youth Director Discusses Football Talent Development

BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — Around 2000, German football, which was in a downturn, launched reforms of its youth development system. Youth academies gradually became a requirement for professional clubs, and the German Football Association also established a nationwide talent development network. More than a decade later, the results of the reforms became evident as Germany lifted the World Cup trophy for the fourth time in 2014.

However, afterward Germany exited the group stage at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and this year was eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32 at the World Cup.

“In the past, we placed too much emphasis on competition in youth football and somewhat forgot the meaning of development.” In a recent media interview, Borussia Dortmund youth academy director Paul Schaffran said German youth development needs to change not only training methods and competition systems, but also answer a fundamental question again: What exactly counts as success in youth development?

Schaffran’s answer was direct: “Two years ago we made it clear — if players who win youth competition championships fail to take an important step in their professional careers afterward, then those championships themselves have little value.”

Schaffran (right) speaks in a media interview.

Winning today or developing the future

For a long time, league rankings, cup results and championships at different age levels have been the most visible indicators for measuring a youth academy’s performance. But Schaffran believes excessive pursuit of these indicators can sometimes move away from the original purpose of youth development.

“We have also won many youth competition championships ourselves, but we did not send enough players into the first team.”

He used Moukoko as an example. The young striker who once caused a sensation in German football had an extraordinary scoring rate during his time in Dortmund’s youth teams. Schaffran described his dominance in youth matches as scoring “50 to 60 goals in a season.”

Years later, looking back on that period, Schaffran is more concerned with how Moukoko scored. He said many of Moukoko’s youth goals came after receiving the ball near midfield and using speed and individual ability to break through defenses directly. “This style of play is almost impossible to replicate in the first team. Maybe apart from Messi, not many players can do it.”

This is also a challenge in youth player development: a player who matures physically early or has a certain ability far above peers can rely on those advantages to keep scoring and helping the team win. If only immediate results are considered, coaches have no reason to change his style of play; however, such advantages may not carry over to adult competition.

Schaffran said that if developing another player with similar characteristics today, he might encourage him to try the No. 10 or No. 8 positions more often instead of remaining a striker. The cost could be fewer goals and weaker youth team results. “You may score 30 to 40 fewer goals every season because of that, but in the end you may get a better player.”

For genuinely talented young players, Dortmund may even deliberately give them greater challenges. Schaffran mentioned a U17 player who was a star at his age level but suddenly lost his starting position after moving to U19 and struggled for a time. In this case, the coaching staff did not send him back to U17 to remain the key player, but kept him at U19 to adapt to the competition.

Schaffran believes moving from youth teams to senior football is one of the hardest steps in a player’s growth. If players remain in a comfortable environment throughout youth development, they may find it even harder to adapt to changing roles after reaching the first team.

On May 8, Borussia Dortmund defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 at home in the 33rd round of the 2025-26 German Bundesliga season. The picture shows Borussia Dortmund players.

Why youth development is becoming more like senior football

In Schaffran’s view, excessive focus on results is not only a problem for Dortmund; German youth football has long had a tendency to introduce senior football concepts into children’s football too early.

“If you watch grassroots matches, you will see too many coaches trying to copy senior football in children’s football.”

For six- and seven-year-old children, getting more touches on the ball is more important than formations, positioning and winning or losing. Schaffran believes that if children play large-sided matches according to senior football methods too early, each player actually gets fewer opportunities to touch and handle the ball.

In recent years, German football has begun reforms. Younger age groups have increasingly adopted smaller-sided games to increase children’s touches; unnecessary long-distance competitions have been reduced; and the top U17 and U19 youth competitions have been reorganized, with more regionalized competition in the first stage of the season before regrouping according to performance levels.

The purpose of the reforms is to make competitions serve player development more, rather than making player development serve competition results.

Frequent changes of youth academies by young players are also a concern for Schaffran. According to him, a young player serves an average of around 1.6 to 1.7 youth academies throughout the youth development period across Europe’s top five leagues, while the figure in Germany is close to 2.5.

In his view, every transfer means readapting to coaches, tactics, teammates and even the living environment. In the short term, moving from a smaller club to a larger academy may seem like an upgrade, but frequently changing environments can interrupt long-term development continuity.

Germany has therefore raised barriers to movement between youth development organizations in recent years. Schaffran said this is not convenient for clubs’ short-term recruitment, but benefits German football in the long run.

Schaffran speaks in a media interview.

How should youth development success be measured?

If championships are not the most important standard, then what is?

Schaffran gave a realistic figure: if two or three youth players can truly enter Dortmund’s first team each season, it is already “perfect work.”

First-team places are limited, and even a top youth academy cannot develop every young player into one of its own professional players. Schaffran believes youth development should both push those with genuine elite potential toward higher levels and help players who do not earn promotion find their next path.

At Dortmund, players learn by February at the latest each year whether they can move to a higher age group the following season. If they cannot stay, the club communicates with the players and their parents to help find other clubs, other youth academies or even opportunities abroad.

Schaffran calls this “expectation management.”

“The bottleneck becomes narrower and narrower,” he said. If every U17 player is led from the beginning to believe they will definitely become a Dortmund first-team player, the eventual elimination process will only become more painful.

At a top youth academy, perhaps only two or three players each year can truly be promoted to the first team. In Schaffran’s view, this does not mean the development of others has failed. The responsibility of youth development includes helping a small number of players reach the highest level, while also helping more young people understand the realities of professional football competition and prepare for different development paths. (End)