Talents under the Cross

Bayer 04 Leverkusen celebrates birthday number 120 this year. We take this as an opportunity to regularly look at football under the Cross here at bayer04.de and we primarily look at the question: How have we become the club we are today. Part six of our series focuses on youth development at bayer04.de. The club has attracted talented young players for decades and they benefit from individual attention, optimum development opportunities and often take their first steps on the road to becoming successful professional footballers at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre.

Not only the Werkself have had an outstanding season. The Black and Red youth players have thrilled over recent months with attractive and successful football. First off, the two oldest year groups: The U19s just missed out on the finals of the German championship finishing third in the U19 Bundesliga West. The U17 team lost a dramatic final for the German U17 championship against Borussia Dortmund with an unlucky defeat in the last minute of added time. It was the only defeat of the season for the team under coach Sergi Runge. "The fact we were in the finals for the German championship for the first time in many years with the U17s as Western German champions is an important sign – also that the U19s were also in with the chance of taking part in the championship finals up to the last matchday," said Bayer 04 sporting managing director Simon Rolfes. "For us, it's all about maintaining this quality in the coming years. That requires consistent work over a long period."

A lot of talented youngsters were able to demonstrate their great potential and developed incredibly over the last season. Bayer 04 can be proud of their youth teams. "In the 2007 year group there are a lot of players with a lot of quality," said Jefta Bresser, head of the Bayer 04 Performance Centre. Francis Onyeka is one of the promising youngsters. The 17-year-old has been at Bayer 04 Leverkusen since 2014. And strikers Ken Izekor and Artem Stepanov, defenders Ferdinand Pohl and Ben Hawighorst, plus the two brothers in midfield Naba and Jeremiah Mensah are also in the group of promising players. As are Montrell Culbreath, Francesco Buono and Kerim Alajbegovic. Another sign of the special quality of this year group is the fact that all the regular players are in their national U17 teams.

Jefta Bresser is optimistic that one or two of them can step up to the first team squad. "That is our target: We want to recruit a large number of the players trained here to our first team," said the 52-year-old Dutchman. "Some will do it earlier and others may need three or four years as they have later physical development."

from Knut Reinhardt to Florian Wirtz

Bayer 04 have been recognised and respected for outstanding youth development work in Germany and Europe for decades. Talented youngsters from under the Cross have progressed from youth teams to established senior players, experienced Bundesliga players and international top stars since the middle of the 1980s. The list is long: From UEFA Cup winner Knut Reinhardt via Gonzalo Castro, Stefan Reinartz, Jens Hegeler, René Adler, Christoph Kramer, Bastian Oczipka, Kevin Kampl, Dominik Kohr, Benjamin Henrichs and Danny da Costa through to Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz – to name just a few. Many of them went through all the youth teams at the club on the way to their first senior appearance.

The Kurtekotten Performance Centre was one of the first of its type in the country when it opened in 2000. Infrastructure, sporting development and care of youth players, including off the pitch, set standards and quickly gave Bayer 04 an advantage. As the first club in the Bundesliga, there has been an educational director since the start of the 2000s. The partnership with the Landrat Lukas grammar school as an elite school of sport (2002) and elite school of football (2008) in cooperation with the Leverkusen sports college (since 1995) makes TSV Bayer 04 a pioneer in Germany..

The club has never rested on its laurels. Youth work is constantly analysed and updated to conform to new demands and developments. For example education: The day for children and teenagers previously started with lessons at eight in the morning. Training could only start at five o'clock after lunch and homework. "And that lasts to seven o'clock , which means the lads often only get home at eight o'clock including travelling time," said Bresser. "We think such a packed twelve hour day is not good for lads of that age. That's why we want to change it.

Pilot project with the U11s

Next season sees the start of a pilot project with the U11 squad. All the players in this year group will go to one of Bayer 04's partner schools covering all types of schools. Lessons and training will be dovetailed and better matched. The U11 players will be able to complete lessons in the morning and start earlier with training in the afternoon. "The aim is for the children to all be finished by five o'clock so they can go home and eat together with their parents in the evening and have a bit of free time," said Bresser. The advantages are obvious: There is more time for training and the children are more attentive and rested with the earlier lessons. The quality of training improves. And: The working day of the youth players is shorter. The extension of educational care in the sports college and at the performance centre means sport and school can be combined with less stress than before.

"We lay great value on a secure learning environment," said Bresser. "That means no child has to feel they must deliver straightaway. They need time to develop." That's why all children from the upcoming U11 year group will have the guarantee that they can stay at Bayer 04 during the years at a partner school from class five to class ten. "Regardless of how they develop. If somebody is unhappy then we will obviously talk about the situation."

Similar structures have a long been established in other European countries as Bresser knows from his own experience. The Dutchman was previously in leading roles responsible for the individual development of youth players of all age groups back home at PSV Eindhoven as well as in England with Fulham and in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg. The qualified academy director and football coach, who took charge of the Leverkusen Performance Centre in October 2023, wants to try for the successful development of previous years. The pilot project with the U11s is a piece of the jigsaw.

And the players in the forthcoming U19 year group will have altered training times in future. Sessions will start at 11.30 on two days a week. Here the appropriate agreement has been made with the partner schools. "That gives us earlier times for video analysis and fitness training," said Bresser who achieved an above average flow between the youth players and the senior side at his previous club De Graafschap. He is looking to increase that at Bayer 04. Leverkusen are pursuing a clear course. Simon Rolfes declared: "We are aiming to consistently develop. We have achieved things this year but it could clearly be even better. We want to inspire players in the region to join us and to develop these players locally. We see in that a really important part of our training. Of course, we’ll go beyond that to look at international talent."

an Individual coach for the promising youngsters

Bayer 04 created another position last summer for the optimum development of top talents: the individual and development coach. Markus Daun has been in that post for almost a year. The former Bundesliga player (88 Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself, Werder Bremen, FC Nürnberg and MSV Duisburg) and a U21 international came through the youth ranks at Bayer 04 in the middle of the 1990s. After his playing career ended, Daun was a youth coach at FC Köln, where he coached Florian Wirtz in the U17s, and he also came to Leverkusen six months after midfielder. He had the 43-year-old is looking after 16 promising players – including talented youngsters who have great potential to move up to the senior squad.

Daun is is a tutor, guardian and contact for these players in all avenues of life. "I try to support the lads as best as possible, give them a framework within which they can move relatively freely." The individual coach and confidant in one person observes closely and is on hand to give his players advice and help. "If I think I can help somebody perform better through special measures in terms of shooting practice or video analysis then I'm happy to do that spontaneously," said Daun.

Trust and commitment are not a one-way street. Daun gets involved if something is going wrong and things drift at school or education, a practical session is missed without being excused or where diet is often unhealthy. "But you need to have an instinctive touch. You can't lump everything together. You can let things go with some more than with others. At the end of the day, we want lads with minds of their own. Otherwise everybody at the next Euros or World Cup will be saying: Where have all the characters gone?"

With all his help and understanding for the talented youngsters: "It's clear that certain rules apply to everybody and cannot be broken by anybody. "It's not about making it as easy as possible for the lads and clearing all obstacles out of the way," declared Daun. "Sometimes the opposite is required: consciously putting something in their way so that they learn how to deal with negative situations."

School and education: a broad offer

Bayer 04 therefore also place great value on decent school and vocational training of their talented youngsters. Frank Ditgens, for many years the educational director at Bayer 04, said: "That is often the key in the end to becoming a successful athlete: the only ones to make it to the first team are those who can master the multi-discipline of school, education and sport." Bayer 04 established the basis for that a long time ago – with the five partner schools Landrat-Lucas Grammar School, Theodor Heuß Secondary School, Catholic Main School Opladen, vocational college Opladen and Geschwister Scholl Technical College. But also with the Bayer 04 internal vocational development in different areas. Players like Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz and Rene Adler completed their Abitur exams at the Landrat-Lucas-Grammar School. Others like Gonzalo Castro and Dominik Kohr completed management assistant in sports and fitness courses at Bayer 04. "We offer a broad range of opportunities where the young players can choose the most suitable path," said Ditgens. "Every route is different. And the broader the offer, the better the quality of the location."

Bayer 04 are currently developing their own educational course: sports management. "Through that, we would take the athletes from TSV Bayer 04 and our young footballers from their environment. They can do the vocational diploma or the Abitur. It would have business and sport sections," explained Ditgens. There is already good experience with other educational courses. The Geschwister Scholl college on Bismarckstraße near the BayArena offers a three-year recreational athletes course in cooperation with TSV. The aim is the general education entrance qualification. U17 player Francis Onyeka is doing his vocational exams there.

There is no lack of offers. And a lot of talented youngsters use them. Education and professional sport: Both require determination and the will to win as well as high self-motivation. "When we recruit youth players it's not just about them being able to play football well," said Simon Rolfes. "The human development potential and personality equally important to us as well. Not just sport but also social ability plays a decisive role. We work on lots of things in this sector."

A set of values in keeping with the club's convictions is really important according to Frank Ditgens. They are not just talented footballers but also young people. Only very few managed to earn their living as a professional footballer. Exceptional talents like Florian Wirtz are the exception. "That's why we want to give each individual player the personality to develop a career plan together with him and his parents. At the end of the day, we are an educational centre. We educate people who are part of our society, including top football players.”

There is no alternative to dual education for all athletes. Both areas, school/education and football, benefit enormously from each other. For this reason, people are very happy to have gained two exception experienced educators with feeling an instinct for young athletes in Jutta Wellmann (school coordinator, formerly Landrat-Lucas Grammar School) and Rainer Fehl (parental support, formerly Opladen college) years ago. "They embody the tight and active connection between education and sport at Bayer 04," said Ditgens.

'House of Talents' planned

In addition to school, education, modern infrastructure and optimum sporting provision, the issue of housing is an important part of the jigsaw puzzle overall. Up to now, many younger players who come from afar live with host families. In addition, others live in groups as players somewhat older talents and they receive educational support. The planned ‘House of talents’ will in future enable Bayer 04 and TSV Bayer 04 to provide a holistic development in a familiar environment that will promote sporting as well as character and educational aspects.

Underage residents will receive round-the-clock support in close cooperation with the youth welfare service. Each residential group will be looked after by a set support worker who will operate as a contact for the teenagers in all aspects of life outside sport and they will remain in close contact with coaches and parents. Within the residential groups, contact between athletes and para-athletes of different disciplines are expressly promoted. The top talents not only face special sporting demands, as Steffi Nerius, currently head of the college, says. "It's about young people who have to combine two full-time occupations in one. Like everybody else in their age group, they go to school to deal work and exams. In addition, they train daily and have games or competitions at the weekend. That the bands are high measure of discipline and optimum organisation of day-to-day life.

For that reason, the selection of the location for the 'House of talents' it was important to take in consideration proximity to partner schools and different sports venues. The young athletes should ideally be able to get to school and training by bicycle or public transport. "We carefully examined various locations before deciding on the land on Elisabeth-Langgässer-Straße. It's important to us to bring in the residents from the start, keep them continually informed and include their ideas," explained Ulrich Wölfer, managing director of TecArena Plus. Three residents meetings have already been held with invitations going out to all immediate neighbours, clubs and nurseries for an open discussion.

It remains to be seen when the ground-breaking ceremony for the 'House of talents' will take place. But it is clear it will be another milestone in youth development at Bayer 04.