To give an impression of the experiences and insights gained at the congress, here is a report on the first DFB Youth Football Congress.
On Friday, March 28, 2025, a six-person delegation made its way to Frankfurt am Main to take part in the DFB Youth Football Congress (JKG). The delegation was led by Frank Schröder, chairman of the youth committee, and was completed by Martin Hartmann (acting chairman of the youth committee), Mathias Kupper (club representative/coach), Nataly Maya Kockejai (U21 player) and Moritz Engelmann (U21 player), all from the Askania Coepenick club, as well as Heike Hintze (full-time employee in match operations administration and referee processing).
Once we arrived on campus, we were able to meet around 240 other soccer enthusiasts from all the regional associations, who were all welcomed by Bernd Neuendorf (DFB President) at 5:00 pm. We were provided with content and impulses for the upcoming busy Saturday and were taken along and picked up with many interesting training approaches for youth training by Hannes Wolf (Director of Young Talent, Training and Development) and exciting discussions with Turid Knaak (former national player) and Thomas Broich (Head of LZ of Borussia Dortmund) in the panel discussion entitled "Identity of Youth Football". Afterwards, the players took to the ball to put Hannes Wolf's training philosophy into practice. Around 90 players competed in 5 versus 5 on the artificial turf pitch. There was a colorful hive of activity and the enthusiasm of the players was clear to see. The evening came to an end at around 10.45 pm with aget-togetherand dinner.
In the morning at 9:00 a.m., after a short welcome, work phase I started for the games. Everyone was divided into 14 different topics such as age grouping, club changes, playing time, net playing time & timeouts, game plan design, transition to adults and much more. The work phases were divided into one 45-minute, one 25-minute and one 15-minute session, allowing each participant to actively contribute to four topics.
Then it was time for a well-earned break and lunch.
The second part started at 2 p.m., this time the working groups were set up for the recreational soccer work phase. There were 7 topics divided into 15 groups, such as soccer variations, open training and game offers or highlight events for leisure teams. Various ideas or existing offers from the different national associations were highlighted.
We left shortly before 17:00.
What happens with the results: Consolidation of the results into project profiles for match operations, guidelines for recreational soccer. Development of a strategy platform for the Federal Youth Day in September, derivation of pilot projects for the DFB and regional associations/districts. Objective Integration into the concept for the DFB master plan from 2026.
We are all excited about the further development of soccer in the youth sector and look forward to the next exchange in order to advance youth soccer together.
One TEAM Berlin and the DFB!