CASE STUDIES & INTERVIEW ANALYSIS
academy operations and strategies, which have added great value to this publication. Across this next section, you will see what we believe to be the most relevant parts of these interviews, plus attempts to clarify some of the data acquired from the surveys and statistical analysis. Ultimately, we have tried to add a bit of the ‘why’, and ‘how’ to the ‘what’. When it comes to sporting policy, most clubs appear to be focusing on their philosophy to produce players for the first team or for the best competitions in Europe, although a similar number are also motivated by finances. A significant number of academies interviewed are motivated by values in their DNA, and some of them are also aligned with their community, recognising the importance of correlating with community for a different number of reasons. More than half of the clubs interviewed define themselves as ‘development clubs’, while the rest are mixed between development and scouting. Almost all of them recognise the importance and benefits of well-developed processes from both perspectives. The sporting policy was, in most cases, created spontaneously, and typically from a single individual within the club. Some of them are currently in the process of development. The majority of academies interviewed have formalised their sport policy document. In almost two thirds of our interviews, it was stated that these documents fit in with their club’s overall strategy. Some club’s do not have an overall strategy. Generally, the importance of aligning documents and operations to the same target(s) appears to be a tangible goal for those that are aligned, and a concern for those that aren’t. The contents of those sporting policies in more than half of the academies start from a philosophy rather than a methodology. In a quarter of academies, there seems to be a strong correlation between a sport policy document, the community/
We interviewed 18 academy representatives from clubs all over Europe to create a series of case studies and best practices…
T he qualitative research part of the project saw us carry out semi-structured interviews with 18 European clubs to create a series of academy snapshots and examples of best practices. The academies interviewed were targeted by their levels of development and their success in the field of youth development, as well as to get a geographical representation of various regions around Europe. Due to various reasons, not least the challenges with travel over the last few seasons, interviews took place remotely over MS Teams between April and October 2021, with each one specifically aimed at the Academy Director or equivalent position within academies in order to ensure maximum consistency between different clubs. The authors of this publication would like to place on record their thanks to all those involved in the process for their incredible openness and willingness to share the most sensitive details of their
OUR INTERVIEWEES WERE
FC Kairat: Yevgeni Krassikov & Wolfgang Geiger Olympique Lyonnais: Jean-Franҫois Vulliez FC Inter Turku: Jani Meriläinen AFC Ajax: Edmond Claus Malmo FF: Per Agren Legia Warszawa: Richard Grootscholten & Piotr Urban FC Zenit: Andrey Arshavin FC Red Bull Salzburg: Manfred Pamminger & Bernhard Seonbuchner RSC Anderlecht: Jean Kindermans Athletic Club: Andoni Bombin HNK Rijeka: Ranko Buketa Fenerbahce SK: Baris Alpaslan & Tahir Karapinar FC Internazionale Milano: Roberto Samaden & Roberto Niccolai FC Zimbru Chisinau: Andrei Trifan FC Shakhtar Donetsk: Aleksandr Alexeev FC Copenhagen: Sune Smith-Nielsen Sporting Clube de Portugal: Tomaz Morais Rangers FC: Craig Mulholland
INTERVIEW ANALYS IS CASE STUDIES AND
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YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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