After failing to advance to the round of 16 in three consecutive World Cups since their triumph in 2014, it's officially a new era for the German national team with Jurgen Klopp at the helm. While the former Liverpool manager stepped away from club soccer in 2024 for a mental reset due to running out of energy, it always felt like a matter of when, not if he would eventually take over the German national team. Following a stop with Red Bull as their head of global soccer overseeing the entire international network of clubs, Klopp has now taken the reins and is already shaking things up in his first international break in charge, calling in a split squad of 44 players for UEFA Nations League play, where they'll face the Netherlands, Serbia, and have two matches against Greece.
His opening match may have seen Germany score first in a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands, but they were outpossessed and outproduced during the entire match, conceding an xG of 3 to the Dutch. Add in an injury to Kai Havertz, and it was a match that showed just how big the job facing Klopp is. He may be a legendary coach, but fixing the German national team will require more than Klopp showing up and immediately getting the team to play above their means, and this first match backs up why he called in such a large group of players.
It's a moment for him to take a look at what he has in the squad, but the fact that he even has to do this leads to the larger question of how German soccer got like this. Playing young players is common in the Bundesliga, and while the Premier League has been a bigger player for that young talent, only eight of the 18 clubs in the top flight are giving more than 30% of their total minutes this season to German players, with Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim, Hamburg, and Bayer Leverkusen all below the 25% threshold. Minus Leverkusen, these are some of the most productive academies in German soccer history, so you'd expect that to also lead to more German players in their lineup, similar to that of Stuttgart, who lead the way with a whopping 80.9% of their minutes this season going to German players.
The Red Bull hope for German soccer
One club that has seen their percentage of minutes given to Germans increase is RB Leipzig, which is where we go back to the Klopp effect. One move that he made while with Red Bull was bringing in David Wagner as the academy director at the club. Given the shift in spending, where young players are being targeted by leagues around the world, which would have previously gone to Leipzig, Wagner's arrival has also come with a shift to develop more homegrown players.
It's an area where Leipzig should have an advantage due to being the only top-flight club in their region of Germany, while also being close enough to Berlin to tap into that population too. Wagner has spent plenty of time in the English academy system and admitted that their youth development has surpassed that of Germany during a roundtable at the RB Leipzig training facility. There was a time when that facility was a state-of-the-art one, but now it's the standard for a top club in the Champions League, and that's where the development process that Wagner has been put in charge of can make the difference.
"They are totally focused on individual development programs within team training," Wagner said about the English development system. "They don't even have a league table until the U16s, I think. They meet on the weekend, they play games, and they like to win, but nobody cares about a table. The whole week is for the individual: what they have to do in the gym, on the grass, in the treatment room. It's based entirely on the individual on a six-week cycle."
"We have so many rules in German youth football that lean on senior football," he continued. "For example, if a 15-year-old kid gets a second yellow card, he is suspended for a game. How can he get better if he's suspended? He has to play to get better. Let him play! We have so many rules in Germany to make the competition fair, but it's youth football. They have to play against each other. It's no problem playing against an older player; it's just a bigger challenge."
What Wagner is saying makes sense, as one of the things that's most important at a young age is getting on the pitch and playing as much as possible. And if you're someone who excels against your own age group, that's when it's time to move up a level and see how you'd perform. Playing up as an athlete can always come back down a level, and the individual program and care for their development are critical because no two players will develop at the same rate. These are issues that Wagner has raised with the German Football Association (DFB), which is also trying to figure out how to turn around the performance of the national team. Given his relationship with Klopp, there's also a chance that some of these changes could come to fruition.
More games is the goal
Germany is already introducing a new U21 competition, which will raise the number of games that young players will have. Currently, Bundesliga second teams usually compete in the lower tiers of the German pyramid, which isn't a system set specifically for development in the way that the Premier League 2 or MLS Next Pro are. Wagner mentioned that the loss of not competing in the UEFA Youth League was on RB Leipzig when they missed out on Champions League play last season, and the inclusion of leagues like this one will make a difference. RB Leipzig even created their own youth competition in the RBL Cup.
This was done under Wagner with the goal of players having more games against high-level competition. It includes the academies of Red Bull Salzburg, Paris FC, and FC Utrecht, while also including teams such as Liverpool, Atlético Madrid, Porto, and Mainz. It's a significant development, and one that Wagner estimates will see RB Leipzig's U19s play around 60% more games than they did last season. Of course, there's the balance of recovery and ensuring that the load on players isn't too high, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that the way to get better at playing soccer is by playing more soccer.
Repetition is important, and when working with coaches on areas to improve, more games also mean more chances to work on what they've been practicing at full speed, while also giving players more video of their own performances to learn from. It's not something that has a swift payoff, and academies don't produce fruit overnight, but with Leipzig's own model shifting away from just buying young players from abroad and improving them at the club, part of that solution is focusing at home.
"We know that Berlin produces talent. Hamburg has great talent," Wagner said. "But apart from Berlin, this East German region is something we have an eye on. My question is always: Why aren't there more Berlin-born players coming through RB Leipzig? We have started to sign players from Berlin for our U19s, but it's an area we definitely need to tap into more effectively."
Keeping up with the Premier League
There are a few reasons why tapping into talent at home is critical. In a world where finances have to be balanced, clubs have to sell in order to buy, which RB Leipzig CEO Marcel Schafer acknowledged was a key factor in Yan Diomande's move to Real Madrid. While you don't want to deny a player a move to a club of that caliber, selling a player for around €140 million can avoid needing to move on other members of the squad.
With the Premier League signing more players at younger ages, it's much harder for German clubs to continue to dip into pools of young players like they used to. An unknown Belgian prospect is now going directly to Brighton instead of Frankfurt, and the fallout requires a focus on the home front, which in turn also helps the national team.
"They definitely have more economic power than we have in Germany. If you see some newly promoted teams and how much they spend, that would never happen in Germany, not even for Bayern Munich," Schafer said of the shifting Premier League power. "It's a challenge, but it's still a chance for a club like ours. We saw that last year when we sold players to big English Premier League teams. On the other hand, it's really challenging because Premier League teams have changed their focus a bit."
"Five to seven years ago, it was clear that if a rising star in Germany emerged, they would move to Leverkusen, Dortmund, or Leipzig," he continued. "Now, mid-table Premier League teams are trying to sign these players directly. You have to find a good balance. We are convinced we are still one of the best clubs in Europe for the work and development of young players, but it is more challenging now."
It's a long road to combat the rise in spending, but it's one where Wagner's suggestions could help get the Bundesliga and German soccer back on equal footing with the other European leagues. Producing more top talent not only leads to more revenue but also improves team depth for competing on multiple fronts. Bayern Munich have been the exception to the rule in the Bundesliga, but even they haven't won a Champions League title since 2020. If Leipzig's inroads pay off, they could also get back to challenging Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title while national teamers take the pitch under Klopp.
