Young footballers: Portugal’s success is born in Lisbon

Portugal’s national team is currently playing to the ground. A secret of success lies in Lisbon. The sports show visited the youth academies of Benfica and Sporting.

On average, once or twice a year, a huge cake is served at the Benfica Lisbon youth academy. Whenever one of their number has made his first appearance in the professional team, they all come together and feast on sweet treats to celebrate the day: the players from the youth teams, coaches, officials and the huge staff around them.

“These are always proud moments for all of us, even if the cake is of course only a symbol,” explains Pedro Mil-Homens. The 71-year-old is something like the “grey eminence” on Benfica’s campus, which is located around 15 kilometers outside of Lisbon city center on the edge of the Tejo River.

Benfica’s youth work: No other club is as successful

“All the boys we train here on campus have a single dream: that is to one day play for the Benfica professional team. And at the same time, everything we do here is subordinate to this goal: to train players for the first team.”explains Mil-Homens.

There has always been cake in recent years – probably no other club in Europe is as successful in terms of the permeability between the youth department and the world-class professional team.

Every year young players make the jump

Over the course of last season, two homegrown players, central defender Antonio Silva (20) and midfielder Joao Neves (19), made it into Benfica’s regular team, which is coached by the German Roger Schmidt. At the same time – and this is logical – both became national players.

And, of course: These two players are extremely interesting for the even bigger, even financially stronger clubs in the world. Benfica has been the most successful selling club in Europe in recent years: in the last five years alone, the club generated a transfer increase of over 450 million euros.

Training and sales – a Business model

We know the graduates: players like Bernardo Silva and Ederson (both Manchester City), Joao Cancelo (FC Barcelona), Renato Sanches (AS Roma) and Nelson Semedo (Wolverhampton) were trained at Benfica and at some point sold very profitably.

Such a balance doesn’t just come about: Benfica invests heavily in youth work: on the campus, which was founded in 2006 and expanded in 2019, the young footballers from U14 onwards are looked after by around 150 employees. There are nine football pitches, a hotel and office complex, fitness and leisure facilities scattered throughout the huge area – nothing is missing.

Young talent work: “Technology is the king”

Over 200 scouts nationwide look for five-year-olds from U6 and U7 to U13, who are looked after by so-called “Benfica houses”, which are located all over Portugal. Anyone who has the appropriate potential at the age of 13 is sent to boarding school.

At Benfica, potential means above all: technical ability. “Technology is king for us,” says campus director Mil-Homens. The sports scientist, who made a name for himself as a university professor in a “second life,” explains: “If you’re not perfect at handling the ball, you won’t make it to Benfica’s campus. And once you’re here, you have the best prospects of becoming a professional.”

Role models greet you from the cabin corridor

Joao Felix, who now works for FC Barcelona, ​​moved to Atletico Madrid in 2019 for over 120 million euros. His brother Hugo could be next.

The 19-year-old has just returned to the locker room from training with the U19 team and walks through the hallway, on the walls of which hang huge photos of all those campus graduates who ultimately made the leap into the professional world.

Hugo Felix – an upcoming star?

Young Hugo Felix greets the visitor shyly – respect and a healthy dose of humility – that’s what the young players on campus are taught, in addition to all the football finesse.

As a 15-year-old, Hugo received an award from the club – not because of his great dribbling on the field – no: he received a certificate for his behavior. Together with his friend André Gomes, he won the competition for the best-maintained room over the season.

Sporting Lisbon – Cristiano Ronaldo is everywhere

Just under an hour’s drive from the Benfica campus, in the rural district of Alcochete, is the “Academia Cristiano Ronaldo”, Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy founded in 2002. It is the oldest of its kind in Portugal: Sporting was, in a sense, the pioneer of a project that rivals Benfica, FC Porto and SC Braga subsequently copied.

And unfortunately – it has to be said – Sporting, which alongside Ronaldo produced players like Luis Figo, João Moutinho, Cedric, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani, was subsequently overtaken by its competitors.

You can practically smell football on the old site – but it urgently needs renovation. The plastic on an artificial turf field is curling, a covered soccer field was temporarily converted into a fitness hall with dumbbells and weights, and the sanitary facilities could use new tiles.

Rather Offensive player

But the principle at Sporting has remained the same over all these years and is still of the highest quality. For a 4-3-3 playing system, the greatest emphasis is placed on the training of offensive players. Extremely successful, as proven by an example: ten boys from the Sporting Academy formed the skeleton of the 23-man squad with which Portugal became European champions in 2016.

However, there is one form in which work is not done at the Sporting Academy: schematically. “We look after each player individually,” says Joao Santos, coach of the club’s U16 team. “We identify the guys we are interested in as early as possible and then gradually develop them further, working on their strengths over the years.”he explains.

Sporting wants to be a “football family”.

In terms of football, the boys should become perfect in their respective positions, but they should also develop the necessary heart for their sport and, above all, for sport: “The players should feel like they are part of a family here. Forming a sense of community is an important part of Sporting’s DNA. It is clear that this can only be achieved with continuity.”

It is virtually unheard of at Sporting for a youth player to change clubs. But this also applies to the youth coaches. “As a coach, you are part of a long-term concept”explains Santos: “Of course we also want to achieve results and positive statistics in the games and competitions. But it is not the most important thing. The individual training of the players comes first.”

Only local talent

Unlike other clubs, Sporting also focuses on local talent. Below the U19 level, only young players with Portuguese passports are active. “Being close to home is important”explains Santos.

The young players should be torn away from their private and family environment as little as possible. Sporting offers you trips abroad: “We take part in as many tournaments around the world as possible with our teams. This broadens the horizons of the players. When they later go out into the world as a professional, they already have a lot of skills for it.”