FC St. Pauli is putting a stop to player advisors at its youth training center (NLZ). As the second division soccer team announced on Tuesday, the club is ending its collaboration with consultants and agencies for underage players.
The club would like to position itself “against the capitalization of youth football”. The Süddeutsche Zeitung first reported. In the future, St. Pauli will only hold commitment and contract discussions for underage talents with the player or his or her immediate environment.
“This is not a decision against advisors in football in general,” said NLZ director Benjamin Liedtke, “but rather it is about putting the focus in youth football on the personal environment of the players, not on agencies and the market.” In addition, the club does not want to allow any “external, commercial individual training in the NLZ”.
Bornemann: “Hope that others will follow our example”
“The topic is being discussed critically in all football committees, and most clubs have also recognized the problem,” said St. Pauli sports director Andreas Bornemann to the “SZ”: “We want to take the first step now and hope that others will follow our example .”
Competition on the talent market is fierce. Even in their teens, advisors are the rule rather than the exception for young footballers. The managers are only allowed to earn money on transfer fees and salaries when the aspiring footballers are of age, but some fees are paid beforehand. And the clubs also recruit the best talent from each other, sometimes with a lot of money.
Is another youth football possible?
St. Pauli, which could hardly keep up with the competition anyway, no longer wants to take part. The neighborhood club is pursuing a concept in the youth sector called “Rebellution – a different youth football is possible”. According to the club, this also includes a “comprehensive educational concept” to support the players holistically. “We work with them to develop the skills to be able to compete in competitive sports,” says Liedtke.
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Sports field | Oct 1, 2023 | 6:00 p.m
