RB Leipzig are aiming to take the next step in furthering the development of the young talents in the club's academy. A key goal for the club is to have more academy players break into professional football in the future. To achieve this, RBL are focused on providing players with significantly more games at the highest level.
"We're playing too few competitive games, particularly our older academy sides," said David Wagner, RBL's Head of Youth Development. The newly-established RBL Cup is meant to help address this exact challenge.
In combination with the new U21 league (for players born in 2006 and younger), the UEFA Youth League, the DFB-Nachwuchsliga and the DFB-Pokal, the U19s will have more than 45 competitive games next season – this works out to over 40% more than last term.
More matches key to furthering player developmentFor Wagner, this is the key to helping improve player development at the club.
"Competitive games are the most important part of a player's development. If, for example, a young player in England is playing 20 to 25 more games per season than a player in Germany, then that amounts to nearly 100 games over a four-year period. That's equivalent to nearly three additional years of development opportunities at the highest level," Wagner explained.
This is intended to allow players to perform more frequently at the highest level, particularly during the crucial transition phase between youth and professional football.
New RBL Cup will bring top clubs from Europe to CottawegA key component of this strategy is the newly-created RBL Cup. Together with the academies of FC Red Bull Salzburg, Paris FC and FC Utrecht, RB Leipzig are hosting an international U21 tournament for the first time.
The tournament promises games against top academy sides such as Atlético Madrid, FC Porto, Mainz 05 and Liverpool FC. Matches against such sides are meant to help our young players get used to the higher pace and intensity of top-level games, in addition to pitting them against talented players from abroad.
RB Leipzig will primarily select players from their U19s for these matches, along with select U17 players. Per match, a total of three older players are permitted to be selected, which also opens up an opportunity for players from the first-team squad to amass valuable match practice.
"We want our young players to come up against older players," said Wagner. "This challenge is exactly what will help them continue to grow and improve."
Overall, each team will play four games as part of the tournament. The Final Four will then meet at Cottaweg around Easter 2027.
Bringing top academy sides to CottawegThe newly-established competition won't just benefit players on the pitch. While various academy sides regularly had to travel to England to take part in the Premier League International Cup last season, the teams will now be able to experience the convenience of playing at Cottaweg instead.
"The RBL Cup allows us to provide players with additional competitive games at the highest level," Wagner said. "This is exactly what our young players need, and the quality of the other participating clubs speaks for itself."
More opportunities for the U19sThere have also been additional changes to the structure of RBL's academy over the summer. Mark Heidenmann has been appointed as the new head coach of the RBL U19s, with Daniel Zolotarev as his assistant.
The squad has also been strengthened with several promising players from Germany and abroad. Their first competitive game will be on 1st August, when the U19s take on Kaiserslautern U19s in the U19 DFB-Pokal.
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