While there is much excitement about the German men’s teams’ chances at the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, the long-term future of football in Germany itself is trending in the wrong direction. The country has lost nearly 6,000 men’s U19 and U17 teams since 2006. The German football association DFB is pushing for reforms, led by its head of youth football, former Bundesliga coach Hannes Wolf.“We have to make sure that there is no pseudo-participation, but that young people are really involved,” Wolf told a recent DFB youth football conference.“If you are already sitting on the bench in the U13s and are not good enough to be involved in your hobby, then I would also tell my children to do something else.”The conference, hosted by the DFB Campus in Frankfurt, brought together 220 participants from Germany’s 21 regional associations to create a plan around identity (fun over results), and not just winning more young people for football, but also keeping them excited about staying. The results of the congress are expected to be delivered by Germany’s Federal Youth Day in September, and is to include suggested plans for regional associations to pilot before fully integrating in 2026.“Football needs to modernize if it is to remain attractive to young people in the future,” DFB President Bernd Neuendorf told the conference. “Even if we currently have long waiting lists in the clubs in many cities, it is no longer a given that children will start playing football and stay with the clubs as youngsters.”In England, after the pandemic, there was a surge in participation of children aged 5-16 playing the game, but a recent Sport England survey revealed that the 16-24 age group saw a 27% drop between 2015 and 2023. The FA introduced a new strategy in 2024 to combat this, and is also planning to introduce a 3v3 format for U7s to from 2026 onwards so as to increase the time young people spend on the ball. It is unclear if similar trends have happened in France, Spain, and Italy.Wolf wants more training concepts to be more open to creative ideas, so as to get more children playing. One idea is get them playing multiple games on full-size pitches — recreating street or cage football across the country.Habit and format changesThe rise of digital platforms plays a part in young people dropping out, but so does the cost of playing organized football and handling the well-documented high expectations and intense scheduling of youth football. Then there’s also injury, parental divorce or relocation. The head of Borussia Dortmund’s academy, Thomas Broich, said youth football would become “a huge cultural issue” for the country. Gerd Thomas, chairman of lower-league team Internationale Berlin, recently wrote that “turbo-capitalism is also finding its way into youth football, and is leading the development of young people down dubious paths.”Malte Boven is a youth football coach based in Hamburg. Boven feels that the mid to late teenage age group, those often on the cusp of professionalism, may have been neglected after all the focus on the 2019 reforms that focused on younger age groups.Boven believes that to focus on one factor as to why many teenagers are leaving football is to miss the wider range of issues in play. He does think the way young people entering football think about the game is changing though, and that everyone involved in development needs to be aware of that.“I think the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ we want to play the game have simply become more central to players in recent years,” Boven told DW. “There is a social difference in the generations.”Boven isn’t worried that Germany will run out of footballers in the years ahead, but he does believe there are some changes that need to be made in order to guarantee football remains an attractive option for young people. Boven feels the use of language with players and parents needs to be more considered, recognizing just how big the impact of what we say and when say it is. The coach also believes investment needs to come not just in structure but also in access to sports facilities, and that coaches need to work together with young people on how to deal with and handle pressure, rather than having it thrust upon them.Reforms make sense, but will take timeBoven is positive about the suggested DFB reforms, but recognizes that a results-focused culture in youth football remains a problem.“Sham participation is a reality when it’s all about winning in youth football, especially in amateur clubs. Then it’s a pseudo-participation of all participating players, because I don’t give them the opportunity for real participation in the form of playing along,” Boven said. “You have to instill maximum trust and confidence that they can do it, that they deserve to play at the club, that there’s a reason why they’re wearing this jersey.Because, as a coach or a club, you have decided to play this game, and now our obligation and responsibility is to give them playing time.”After all, as Boven and many other coaches believe: “Humanity is the basis of performance.”The outcome of the suggested reforms, if approved, are likely to impact the next generation of footballers. In the meantime, Boven believes there are other ways to increase the attractiveness of football, such as offering academy players a letter of skill development upon departure to help them secure their next steps in the world of work.“I would have a completely different incentive than just becoming a professional player. I still want to become a pro, but I know I’ll get something to show for my work here,” Boven said.Perhaps more than anything though, it’s the influence and attitude of the professional game that needs greater attention. Because as the author of the bestseller “Atomic Habits” and former college baseball player James Clear said: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
