Emotions have cooled down a bit since a number of prominent men polemicized against the reform of children’s football decided by the German Football Association in late summer. The introduction of smaller forms of play, at least up to the U10 level in competitions, would be part of a dangerous social trend, it was said: young people were becoming soft, no longer learning to assert themselves and overcome resistance.
“If we are afraid that an eight-year-old like this will be completely thrown out of balance in life because his team loses 5-0, then that says a lot about German society,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke, who is currently The most powerful man in German football said and mocked: “Soon we’ll play without the ball or we’ll make it square so that it doesn’t always run away from the slightly slower young people.”
“An opposing voice creates discussion and therefore advertising”
Lars Bender, who works at the German Football Association in the competence team that is supposed to convey the new children’s football to the grassroots, would have good reasons to be annoyed by such statements. But he smiles gently when faced with this criticism. The former national player observed “that these dissenting voices also lead to discussions and the discussion is then again advertising. From that point of view, it actually has added value for us.”
In fact, the training and information videos for youth coaches were viewed significantly more often in the days following Watzke’s criticism than usual. The first vice president of the DFB says that he has never received so much positive feedback on any other statement in his entire official career. But the people behind the project have found that even skeptics who have previously written nasty Facebook comments about the concept are quickly convinced, says Nikola Ludwig, who is also a member of the competence team.
“That’s exactly the beauty of it. We’re out and about everywhere and people are just grateful. And for me it’s like this: when I show it, when I explain it, when I demonstrate it on the pitch, then I’ve never experienced anyone who had a logical counterargument or who could somehow say: Hey, that doesn’t work,” says Ludwig. “I’ve already had training courses where I knew beforehand that there would be four to five people there who liked to write comments on Facebook and who said afterwards: It was great, it helped me.”
More ball activities for all children
The main arguments are: Small teams play on two goals, but usually on four goals, both in training and in competitions that are held as small tournaments. This means that every child has a significantly increased number of ball actions. In addition, with several three-on-three or four-on-four games taking place at the same time, it is much easier to ensure that the weaker players end up in teams where they are needed. There are constant duels, dribbling and finishing situations, which means that more dribblers, goal scorers and tacklers are trained. These are exactly the types of players that are missing at the highest level at the moment.
However, an important distinction is often forgotten in the discussions: Training is something different from competition, says DFB coach Ludwig: “This is a huge topic, it’s something that is actually always mixed up: training philosophy and new forms of competition in children’s football. We also make it very clear that our first priority is training. That is very, very important.”
The fact that the new forms of play make sense in training is hardly ever seriously questioned. It is more difficult for traditionalists to forego the one important game on the weekend, after which the neighbors and grandparents ask about the result and the goalscorer. Where a table is created where you can feel a bit like you are with the professionals.
The focus is on development rather than success
“I’ll be honest, especially when it comes to the types of competition, I wasn’t that convinced at the beginning. I wasn’t really aware of it until I understood 100 percent what it was all about,” says Lars Bender. Part of the skepticism stems from the fact that the role of the coaches changes fundamentally when each team competes on competition day with several small teams of three or four playing at the same time.
With six to ten year olds, it is no longer possible for fathers to coach with the main motive of having the greatest possible success, perhaps getting promoted or at least being ahead of the usually superior arch-rival from the neighboring village in the table. In practice so far, driven by this ambition, the physically strongest players usually play, while others sit on the bench for a long time. Far too early on, it’s about pragmatic success strategies instead of football development. Such types of coaches may resist for a few more years, but in the medium term they will die out in children’s football for those under ten years of age.
“Ultimately, we are companions and not teachers. I think that is often a bit misunderstood. There are too many coaches out there who think they have to teach and always train the boys in every element. That’s what we’re after “We accompany their development. And that’s what we have through these free forms of play, so that the children simply develop naturally,” says Bender.
When it comes to the forms of competition, people like the still skeptical Hans-Joachim Watzke will probably continue to disagree for a while. There may also be adjustments and changes at this point. Additional competitions, for example, where sometimes games are played like in previous decades. But perhaps the doubters will simply fall silent when they see that the children trained according to the new concept are suddenly much better footballers when, as ten-year-olds, they are all playing for points, league positions and promotions.