DFB director Hannes Wolf would like to improve the children’s football reform. But not, as BVB managing director and DFB vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke demanded, with more tables, but on the contrary: with smaller teams, including among the older ones.
The director of young talent, training and development said in an interview with Sportschau that he sees a need for change in three details: the more consistent, uniform implementation of the back pass rule and the team sizes in the D and E youth teams.
The far-reaching reform fundamentally changes the game operations from the G to E youth levels. Tournaments with several small fields and small teams replace the classic club duels. In the E-Youth, however, the DFB still allows seven-a-side league play as a variant.
It makes sense for this option to be eliminated in the future, suggests Wolf. He and his DFB expertise team agree on this. “It’s clear to us that it can’t be bigger than four against four plus the goalkeeper.” Clear, unambiguous rules are needed, said Wolf.
Seven against seven in the D youth team
The D-youths (U12 and U13) have not yet been part of the reform, but Wolf would like to take the next step here too. Instead of the previously practiced nine against nine, he would like to see seven against seven, because then a striker would not only have the ball 15 times, but 50 times. “If we calculate this over time, then we clearly develop the players better in the smaller format,” Wolf said.
In addition to a main field, a side field with an additional game can be set up, if necessary in smaller groups so that everyone is moving. “It would be best if we had two fields for seven against seven, because then in the D-youth we would not only train one goalkeeper per team, but two who can play at the same time,” Wolf said.
Back pass rule also for the younger ones
Wolf would like to see the back pass rule applied uniformly and consistently in the E-Youth team. “If you can pass to the goalkeeper in a four-on-four situation and he can then pick up the ball, that makes no sense. Because you can always release the pressure backwards, this is then automatically used as a tactical tool and is counterproductive.”
According to Wolf’s suggestions, the next step would now be, according to the DFB, further discussions in specialist departments, with the regional associations and clubs in order to create the basis for possible decisions. “That doesn’t mean that things will change tomorrow. But it’s clear to me that the game would be better as a result and that we will address the issues,” Wolf said.
Criticism by Hans-Joachim Watzke
The reform recently made waves because football celebrities such as Ralf Rangnick, Steffen Baumgart and Hans-Joachim Watzke criticized the elimination of tables and official results. Borussia Dortmund’s managing director Watzke, also vice president of the DFB, called the reform “incomprehensible” and “incomprehensible”. He asked Wolf to show alternative courses of action in the next one or two years.
However, Wolf’s current proposals would not mean a step back to classic league operations, as Watzke probably had in mind, but rather an even more consistent implementation of the reform with smaller teams. But in the D-youth it should “in any case” There will continue to be tables, said Wolf, even with the smaller seven-a-side teams.
When asked about possible tables in the e-youth, Wolf said: “Tables are not so relevant at this age. What is relevant is that the children often have the ball and are often in action. And they are more likely to do that in a small format, preferably with tournaments or game parties. There, too, they learn to win and achieve Lose, there too they experience victories and defeats, even several times in one day. It would be important to me that the children can play and train consistently over the course of the year.”
Differences at the base
The DFB had developed guidelines for organizing game festivals that the state, district and city associations can use as a guide. From the 2024/25 season, the new forms of play will be mandatory nationwide.
They are already being implemented in many places, but the rules are sometimes very different. Ultimately, the state associations and, in some cases, the city and district associations continue to decide for themselves how to organize the game festivals in detail.
Wolf: “Flexibility, yes, but…”
The DFB was able to accommodate skeptical associations and latecomers with the option of being able to organize a seven-on-seven league in the e-youth sector. Children and coaches in particular who have been playing the classic game for a long time can find it a step backwards if they are asked to switch to the new game format.
“Flexibility, yes, but it has to stop where it is no longer good for the children,” said Wolf now. “Six against six plus a goalkeeper in the E-youth is not right from our point of view. Otherwise, the Belgians and many other nations will always be better than us after the E-youth.” Especially the smaller ones, mostly those born late in the year, were completely lost in the six-on-six, said Wolf. “Multiple fields are also elite development at the same time, because when the best three or four from one team play against the best three or four from the other team, they play at a higher level.”
“Training philosophy Germany” proclaimed
Play as much as possible, in small teams and aim for goals – Wolf also wants to establish this principle more strongly in the training of children and young people. To this end, he has proclaimed the “German Training Philosophy”, which is intended to become a trainer’s guideline from the Bambinis to the A-youth, from the district class to the youth performance centers.
In an interview with Sportschau, he explained exactly what this is all about and how he wants to implement the idea in the unwieldy, federalist system of German football.