Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And to answer the original question about which European country...It all depends on your goals and the type of player your kid is. As the other people on this thread have aptly noted, each country has their own methodologies and systems and one may be good for one type of player and not so good for another. If you're really considering trying to play in Europe, you have to be very honest with yourself and your kid about his potential, his positions (no kid is locked into one position at 10 yrs old) and what is the best environment for his development. The reality is that European football is just at a much different level than in the US. IN EVERY WAY. Speed of play is faster. Kids are smarter with the ball at younger ages. Technical skills are better (and by technical skills I don't mean doing fancy moves on cones and making IG reels, I mean consistent first touch with both feet under extreme pressure, can trap the ball with all parts of body easily on the ground and out of the air and under duress, chip 10, 20, 30 yards with both feet, passing accuracy is high with both feet, notice "both feet", solid 1v1 and dueling etc) and lastly, coaches are just better. That doesn't mean we don't have good coaches in the US, we do, but end of day, our coaches usually have never sniffed the upper echelons of the game EVEN IN THE US. A lot of the youth coaches in Europe have either played pro themselves in Europe or have been through extensive coaching training again, in Europe. Its just a totally different world.

Having seen youth academies from all of the countries that have been offered by previous posters, I would say this...French youth players seem to play more freely and without inherent limitations from the academy.
Germany is heavily structured but your player will learn the game in an environment that breeds discipline and efficiency with the ball and their movements while also learning defensive abilities (German football is very physical defensively and for American players this is where they all fail. Not just being physical, they are good at that. But more, how to actually play defense which is just not taught in the US). Netherlands, kids are masters of the ball...You can see that they emphasize touches and touch rate in training to breed confidence on the ball in all situations and finding solutions themselves. Finding solutions within is one of the main reasons why I think players set themselves apart. Most of the academies are on some Cryuff model of total futbol. Spain the kids understand how to move the ball to create space for the team and themselves and how to create numerical superiority all over the pitch. Passing accuracy is at a premium. Much less dribbling than you would think. I would say dribbling is not preferred in many of the systems in Europe unless that is the smartest way to advance the ball. England, structured like Germany. More direct football than one would think at the younger ages. One country that we haven't seen on this thread is Portugal. Some of the best youth academies I have seen. Creativity, athleticism, technical ability. A lot of the academies in Portugal know how to develop players and it is proven.

Again, all depends on what you're looking for and your particular situation. Just my two cents...

Italy?

Italy has a very strong academy structure as well. You can of course see the defensive mentality/defensive tactical roots in almost every youth team but you can also see that they preach positional discipline and high in game awareness. The kids know where to be. Off the ball movement is really strong and the players understand that most of the time you're on the pitch you don't have the ball so what you do in those times is almost more important than what you do when you have the ball. But, again, it all depends on what you want for your child and your understanding of the system that you're about to try and engage. They all have pros and cons.

LAST PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: The mistake that most American parents make is that they assume that the clubs that have big names and brand recognition are the ones that are the best developers of talent. That is just not the case. Of course in some instances it is but often times it isn't. Americans often times get caught up in the club's name and brand and completely forget about the end game and the realities of what it takes to get there in that system. What I mean by this is that most of the large clubs have enough money to buy the talent they want when it counts (i.e. U17 and after). So, in many instances (not all), they let others develop the talent and then swoop in and buy them (and often times take the credit). What that means for an aspiring parent/player is that you have to look at a particular club's incentives to develop talent at young ages and make sure your incentives match theirs. Let's take Italy since you mentioned Italy. Take a club like Atalanta. Not a household name but they are brilliant at developing talent within the academy and either using them for the first team or selling them off to bigger clubs. This is how they stay in Serie A. If I'm not mistaken I believe they lead Serie A in academy players getting first team minutes. This is a statistic that you want to look out for in an academy for sure or ask the Head of the academy what their statistics are on this.

Lets say your son makes it to a Bayern Munich or AC Milan or Man City at 14. What I can tell you from seeing it happen is that clubs like that reload their teams mercilessly. Meaning that, your son could be on the chopping block a year or two later very VERY easily unless he is a top TOP talent at one of those clubs (which is hard because they already have strong talent to begin with). Each season the clubs cut 5-7 players AT A MINIMUM (rosters are around 20-22 depending on the talent and the club's needs at that age). Sometimes they cut more depending on the situation. I've seen clubs come to a new season with almost entirely new rosters from u15 to u16. Because the emphasis is solely on producing pros (not winning) there is a very different mentality about the team dynamics and cohesion. It isn't about winning or producing winning teams. Winning is truly a byproduct of developing the players and coaching them properly. It is about developing a handful of kids at each age group in the academy to make money on them. THAT IS IT. And if your kid isn't one of those top kids in the academy, then your kid is the one helping develop the ones that they believe can be pros. Harsh reality.

All of this means that a player probably doesn't want to be at these big clubs cubs at u12-u16 because the likelihood of them staying on to the ages when it counts is very low, unless they are a superior talent. And if your son isn't a superior talent (just good), your son is seen as replaceable and BELIEVE that they will replace him in a heartbeat without a second thought about you or your family situation or whatever. Its big business. Smaller clubs have incentives to develop your son. PERIOD. They need to do this to survive in the best leagues in the world if they don't have the resources of a Barca. Also, all of the clubs are super saavy in Europe about player identification and the development progression of a player because they have seen it happen thousands of times in their own (and other) academies. This is where the US is WAY WAY behind. The US just doesn't have the development experience and results. We are getting there but far away from Europe. Why the US focuses so much on size and speed. These are the only two things that don't need to be developed with a level of sophistication. Either you have it or you don't and an academy doesn't need to teach size and speed. The US has made the calculation that it doesn't have the coaching infrastructure or soccer culture in the country today to develop talent at the rate Europe does. So USSF took the path of least resistance and that is try to be physically dominant over opponents, which we have all seen, DOES NOT WORK at an international level. Given the athleticism in the US pool, this strategy allows the US to stay competitive at a minimum (and this is actually slowly starting to erode) but it will never take us to the level of international dominance. It is also why US youth teams do well internationally at younger ages u15-u19 and less so as they get to the adult ages. The European clubs/countries are long term investors in talent identification and development. The US is a short term investor in talent promotion (i.e. who stands out now and lets promote that kid as opposed to identifying a kid that 5 years from now could be something) BIG DIFFERENCE.

What this means is that if your son is an early bloomer, European clubs know his potential limitations later., especially if he isn't technical If your son is a late bloomer they understand how to spot the potential (i.e. they use data to predict growth potential, muscularity potential and speed potential) or lackthereof. What every player needs is a trait or set of traits that sets him apart from his peers and gives him the ability to change the outcome of a game. Whether you're in the US or in Europe, every player aspiring to be a pro somewhere needs this. If you don't have this, I'm sorry but there ae millions of kids out there that are just like you.

I know this is a lot but I've seen so many American parents come to Europe and get it wrong that I just felt like I had to write some of this down. Hope this is at least helpful to some parents looking at Europe as an option...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And to answer the original question about which European country...It all depends on your goals and the type of player your kid is. As the other people on this thread have aptly noted, each country has their own methodologies and systems and one may be good for one type of player and not so good for another. If you're really considering trying to play in Europe, you have to be very honest with yourself and your kid about his potential, his positions (no kid is locked into one position at 10 yrs old) and what is the best environment for his development. The reality is that European football is just at a much different level than in the US. IN EVERY WAY. Speed of play is faster. Kids are smarter with the ball at younger ages. Technical skills are better (and by technical skills I don't mean doing fancy moves on cones and making IG reels, I mean consistent first touch with both feet under extreme pressure, can trap the ball with all parts of body easily on the ground and out of the air and under duress, chip 10, 20, 30 yards with both feet, passing accuracy is high with both feet, notice "both feet", solid 1v1 and dueling etc) and lastly, coaches are just better. That doesn't mean we don't have good coaches in the US, we do, but end of day, our coaches usually have never sniffed the upper echelons of the game EVEN IN THE US. A lot of the youth coaches in Europe have either played pro themselves in Europe or have been through extensive coaching training again, in Europe. Its just a totally different world.

Having seen youth academies from all of the countries that have been offered by previous posters, I would say this...French youth players seem to play more freely and without inherent limitations from the academy.
Germany is heavily structured but your player will learn the game in an environment that breeds discipline and efficiency with the ball and their movements while also learning defensive abilities (German football is very physical defensively and for American players this is where they all fail. Not just being physical, they are good at that. But more, how to actually play defense which is just not taught in the US). Netherlands, kids are masters of the ball...You can see that they emphasize touches and touch rate in training to breed confidence on the ball in all situations and finding solutions themselves. Finding solutions within is one of the main reasons why I think players set themselves apart. Most of the academies are on some Cryuff model of total futbol. Spain the kids understand how to move the ball to create space for the team and themselves and how to create numerical superiority all over the pitch. Passing accuracy is at a premium. Much less dribbling than you would think. I would say dribbling is not preferred in many of the systems in Europe unless that is the smartest way to advance the ball. England, structured like Germany. More direct football than one would think at the younger ages. One country that we haven't seen on this thread is Portugal. Some of the best youth academies I have seen. Creativity, athleticism, technical ability. A lot of the academies in Portugal know how to develop players and it is proven.

Again, all depends on what you're looking for and your particular situation. Just my two cents...

Italy?

Anonymous wrote:And to answer the original question about which European country...It all depends on your goals and the type of player your kid is. As the other people on this thread have aptly noted, each country has their own methodologies and systems and one may be good for one type of player and not so good for another. If you're really considering trying to play in Europe, you have to be very honest with yourself and your kid about his potential, his positions (no kid is locked into one position at 10 yrs old) and what is the best environment for his development. The reality is that European football is just at a much different level than in the US. IN EVERY WAY. Speed of play is faster. Kids are smarter with the ball at younger ages. Technical skills are better (and by technical skills I don't mean doing fancy moves on cones and making IG reels, I mean consistent first touch with both feet under extreme pressure, can trap the ball with all parts of body easily on the ground and out of the air and under duress, chip 10, 20, 30 yards with both feet, passing accuracy is high with both feet, notice "both feet", solid 1v1 and dueling etc) and lastly, coaches are just better. That doesn't mean we don't have good coaches in the US, we do, but end of day, our coaches usually have never sniffed the upper echelons of the game EVEN IN THE US. A lot of the youth coaches in Europe have either played pro themselves in Europe or have been through extensive coaching training again, in Europe. Its just a totally different world.

Having seen youth academies from all of the countries that have been offered by previous posters, I would say this...French youth players seem to play more freely and without inherent limitations from the academy.
Germany is heavily structured but your player will learn the game in an environment that breeds discipline and efficiency with the ball and their movements while also learning defensive abilities (German football is very physical defensively and for American players this is where they all fail. Not just being physical, they are good at that. But more, how to actually play defense which is just not taught in the US). Netherlands, kids are masters of the ball...You can see that they emphasize touches and touch rate in training to breed confidence on the ball in all situations and finding solutions themselves. Finding solutions within is one of the main reasons why I think players set themselves apart. Most of the academies are on some Cryuff model of total futbol. Spain the kids understand how to move the ball to create space for the team and themselves and how to create numerical superiority all over the pitch. Passing accuracy is at a premium. Much less dribbling than you would think. I would say dribbling is not preferred in many of the systems in Europe unless that is the smartest way to advance the ball. England, structured like Germany. More direct football than one would think at the younger ages. One country that we haven't seen on this thread is Portugal. Some of the best youth academies I have seen. Creativity, athleticism, technical ability. A lot of the academies in Portugal know how to develop players and it is proven.

Again, all depends on what you're looking for and your particular situation. Just my two cents...

Anonymous wrote:PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT...For any US based parent out there thinking that their kid will play in Europe under the age of 16, PLEASE PLEASE read ALL of the FIFA rules regarding international transfers of minors. Not going to happen unless you fall under some of the exception clauses (family moves for non football related reasons etc.). Not to mention, even if your kid did fall into one of the exceptions, do not underestimate how good your kid will have to be for any European pro academy to overlook their own (i.e. citizens of that country) for your, American, son. They would have to be one of the top players on the team to displace someone. And to be very honest, that is pretty rare. Not saying it is impossible but it is rare. So, for the parents that send their kids to Europe to play youth tournaments under the age of 16 thinking that a European club will spot them and say OMG I must have this player, now you know that this will probably never happen absent FIFA exceptions. The wisdom of those experiences is a completely different topic that deserves another thread.

ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - Passport is pretty much irrelevant under the age of 16 even if you are transferring to the country where you have a passport. The amount of times I've heard "oh he has a European passport" like that was the dispositive factor to playing European youth football is CRAZY. Passport only allows you to be in the target country and of course that makes things a bit easier because you can live there without additional paperwork. You could potentially live in the country and play locally for a while and transfer to a pro club but directly to a pro academy from the USA...difficult. Getting your player card in Europe is governed by FIFA (not immigration) and you would be an international transfer (i.e. from US club to European club) and the transfer rules and exceptions would apply. Which means that under the age of 18 you cannot transfer to Europe unless you fall under certain exceptions. Those exceptions start becoming a bit easier at 16. Under 16, harder (again not impossible because we have seen it work for others, but harder). There needs to be an educational course on the FIFA international transfer rules for US football parents. BOTTOM LINE: if you don't know the rules and how they relate to you position and your playing situation (i.e. if you're coming from a pro academy vs. a local club there is a different factor which is training comp), you are already set up for failure if you're trying to play overseas under the age of 16.

Anonymous wrote:Not Germany. It is a systematic method of play not conducive to play outside of Germany. You will be a (very, very well trained) cog but devoid of the machine if you don’t stay in the system.