While transfers with big budgets and constantly changing coaches are among the important topics on the agenda in European and Turkish football, Germany's Freiburg club draws attention with its different structure. The German team, which stands out with its transfer policy based on long-term planning, infrastructure investments, coach stability and player development, has managed to become one of the stable teams of the Bundesliga over the years.
Behind the club's success are not only sporting results but also strategic decisions taken years ago. In particular, the Freiburg Football School (Freiburger Fußballschule), founded in 2000, is considered one of the most important parts of the club's current structuring.
HE BROUGHT 73 FOOTBALL PLAYERS TO THE PROFESSIONAL TEAM IN 25 YEARS
The foundations of Freiburg's football school were laid in 2000. At that time, the club decided to allocate significant economic resources to infrastructure facilities and the development of young players. The approach behind this investment was to create a system that could train its own players in the long term, instead of paying high transfer fees to expensive football players.
According to the data shared by the German club on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the football school in 2026, 73 players have promoted to the professional squad from the infrastructure to date. There were an average of 10 football school graduates per season in the A team squad.
Among the important names trained in Freiburg's youth system are players such as Matthias Ginter, Christian Günter and Noah Atubolu. Transferred players such as Kevin Schade and Johan Manzambi were among the notable examples of the club's development model.
In Freiburg, where the transition from the youth team to the A team is not left to chance, the technical team of the professional team and the youth coaches hold regular meetings. While the development of young players is closely monitored, the connection between the U17, U19 and U23 teams and the A team is constantly kept alive.
THE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR STANDED OUT WITH HIS CONSISTENCY
One of the notable features of Freiburg was the long-term structure in the managerial position.
Names such as Eckhard Krautzun, Volker Finke, Robin Dutt, Marcus Sorg, Christian Streich and Julian Schuster have worked at the club since 1990. Although not all of these names worked for the same period of time, their long-term coaching periods played an important role in preserving the football policy of the club.
Volker Finke, who took office in 1991, was the coach of Freiburg for 16 years. The club, which was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1993 under the management of Finke, achieved one of the important successes in its history by finishing the league in third place in the 1994-1995 season.
Robin Dutt, who took office after Finke, took the team back to the Bundesliga in 2009. Then the Christian Streich era began.
Streich, who was appointed to the position in December 2011, remained at the head of the team until June 2024. The experienced coach, who made Freiburg one of the stable teams of the Bundesliga during his approximately 12.5-year tenure, achieved fifth place in the 2012-2013 season, sixth place in the 2021-2022 season and fifth place in the 2022-2023 season.
Following Streich's departure, the club decided to continue with a name from within its own structure, rather than looking for an external coach.
INSTEAD OF STREICH IS THE CLUB'S LEGENDARY CAPTAIN JULIAN SCHUSTER
Julian Schuster, who was appointed after Christian Streich, was a name who knew Freiburg's football structure closely.
Schuster, who played for Freiburg between 2008 and 2018, served as team captain for many years. The German coach, who continued to work at the club after his football career, worked as a connection coach responsible for the transition process of young players to the A team since the 2018-2019 season.
Schuster, who was appointed as coach in 2024, took Freiburg to fifth place in the Bundesliga in his first season and earned the team a ticket to the UEFA Europa League.
Freiburg, under the management of Schuster, made a significant breakthrough in the 2025-2026 season. The German team succeeded in advancing to a European cup final for the first time in its history with its performance in the UEFA Europa League.
PRIORITY IN TRANSFER IS YOUNG AND OPEN FOR DEVELOPMENT PLAYERS
One of the important parts of Freiburg's sporting structure is its transfer policy.
The German team follows a policy that focuses on discovering young players open to development and increasing their value, rather than adding star football players to its squad with high transfer fees.
In this model, an important place is reserved not only for players trained within the club's own infrastructure, but also for players transferred from other teams at an early age.
Johan Manzambi and Merlin Röhl are among the notable examples of this policy.
Manzambi, who joined the Freiburg infrastructure from Swiss representative Servette in 2023, first played in the U19 and U23 teams. The Swiss football player, who was promoted to the A team squad in the 2024-2025 season, became one of the important names of the team in a short time.
The 20-year-old football player, who attracted attention with his performance in the 2025-2026 season, also played an important role in Freiburg reaching the Europa League final. After his three and a half year Freiburg adventure, Manzambi was transferred to Aston Villa, one of the English Premier League teams, in July 2026.
While the club did not disclose the transfer fee, it was stated in the German and British press that the transfer fee was approximately 60 million euros and could rise to higher levels with bonuses.
Merlin Röhl, another notable sale of Freiburg, was transferred from Ingolstadt in 2022. The German midfielder, who first played for the U23 team, continued his development in the professional team. The transfer of Röhl, who was loaned to Everton in September 2025, turned into an agreement worth approximately 25 million euros when the purchase conditions came into effect.
Names such as Kevin Schade, Çağlar Söyüncü and Ritsu Doan were among the examples of Freiburg's success in player development and transfer market.
ONE OF THE STABLE TEAMS OF THE BUNDESLIGA
Freiburg's success is not judged only by league rankings. While the club was in the top ranks in some seasons, it struggled in the middle ranks in other periods.
Freiburg, which has managed to regularly participate in European cups, especially in recent years, continued its sports structure while maintaining its position in the Bundesliga.
PROMOTED TO THE EUROPEAN LEAGUE FINAL
One of the most important sports results of the structuring that Freiburg has been continuing for years emerged in the 2025-2026 season.
Competing in the UEFA Europa League, the German team advanced to the European cup final for the first time in its history by eliminating Celta Vigo in the quarter-finals and Braga in the semi-finals.
Freiburg, who lost the first match against Braga 2-1, won 3-1 in the rematch and made it to the final with a total score of 4-3.
Facing Aston Villa in the final played in Istanbul on May 20, 2026, Freiburg lost the match 3-0. Thus, although he could not achieve the first European cup championship, he achieved one of the most important successes in the club's history.
One of the striking details of the final was the reflection of Freiburg's infrastructure structure on the field. The final squad included eight players trained at the football school. Christian Günter, Matthias Ginter, Noah Atubolu, Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Höfler and Philipp Treu were in the first 11, while Jordy Makengo and Max Rosenfelder also joined the game later.
This table was important as it showed the point where Freiburg's investment in infrastructure years ago has reached today.
STEİNE STATT BEİNE: INVEST IN FACILITIES INSTEAD OF FOOTBALL PLAYERS
The fundamental decisions behind Freiburg's current success were made in the early 2000s.
The approach taken by the club when creating its football school was expressed in Germany with the slogan "Steine statt Beine". This approach, which can be translated into Turkish as "Stones instead of feet", described the directing of a significant portion of the resources to be allocated to football player transfers to permanent facilities and infrastructure investments.
In line with this understanding, Freiburg has created a modern structure in which young players can develop. Players who have risen from the youth team to the professional team over the years have contributed to the sporting success of the club and also enabled significant revenues to be obtained in the transfer market.
Today, Freiburg is among the noteworthy clubs in European football with its technical management stability, its policy of recruiting players from the youth team to the A team, and its approach of increasing their value by transferring players who are open to development.
The German team, which brought 73 players to the professional squad in 25 years, preserved the club culture during coaching changes and advanced to the Europa League final in the 2025-2026 season, continues to be one of the successful examples of long-term football structuring.
