During that time, German football suffered a huge set back that changed the shape of German football. The corporate media giant, Kirch group, collapsed. Kirch media, bankrolled sport on TV and did exactly what Sky is doing through English Premier League
and had a similar success level. But in doing so, Kirch overstretched its efforts and resources to such an extent that 3 of its main media entities became insolvent in 3 months, from April to June of 2002. Naturally, Bundesliga was also affected by such a
sudden collapse of such a huge empire and was left with clubs who had no money for transfers and they had to cut down and in some cases, even slash wages to avoid suffering the same fate as Kirch group.
From then on, German clubs had no option left other than drafting in young players from their academies into the 1st teams. Many people criticised the whole idea and argued that the youngsters were being thrown in too early and it might affect
their careers. It was a good argument but some youngsters thrived as well during that period. A lot of mistakes were made and foolish goals were conceded. The clubs on the other hand, had nowhere to go and had no other option other than keeping faith in the
youngsters. Youngsters like Kevin Kuranyi of VfB Stuttgart learnt from their mistakes and then started realising their potential.
The decade was a period of transition for German football but it still reached the World Cup Final in 2002. Then in 2006, Germany hosted the tournament and again reached the semi-final and came third under former world cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann. At that
time, another young coach, Joachim Low, was drafted in to assist Klinsmann as the German team played attractive football throughout the tournament and exceeded all expectations.
Germany 2006 showed glimpses of a great future ahead for German football in Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Phillip Lahm who rose to the occasion and Lukas Podolski even managed to grab the Young Player of the Tournament award.
Things were looking up for the German side as Joachim Low succeeded Jurgen Klinsmann as the coach of the national side and he led the young team to the European Championships Final in 2008 where the team eventually lost by only a single goal against a Spanish
side that was on a roll.
From 2008 to 2010, the world saw a young German team hit top gear. Some might consider the collapse of Kirch Group a blessing in disguise for the national side. The affects of the collapse are still evident in the German Bundesliga with few big name signings
(foreign players) and clubs still forced to insert young blood in their first teams.
It was good omens as a first team experienced German side won the U-17 European Championship and went on to win the European Championship at U-19 and U-21 level in 2009. When the time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came, many of these young players
had already been drafted in the senior team and had a good championship experience.
The investment in 2002 is still evident in the national side as Podolski, Mertesacker, Lahm and Schweinsteiger are all in their mid 20s and have a long way to go. South Africa 2010 saw the arrival of Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng.
But it is not going to stop right here. Many potential stars are already under the national team’s radar like Toni Kroos, Dennis Aogo, Marko Marin, Lewis Holtby, Serdar Tasci, and Oliev Stochowski.
There is a lot of talent and lot of options in every department for Joachim Low and they are giving him good headaches. Despite finishing third in the World Cup this year, Germany is looking set for a long and dominating spell in world football and will
keep on bearing the fruits of setting up youth academies across the country.
The English FA in contrast to its counterparts hasn’t a lot of time anymore and should act rather than discussing the matters or admiring the beautiful arch at Wembley.
Most of the Premier League is heavily burdened with debt and eventually many teams would be forced to turn to their academies. Let’s hope it’s not too late and the English FA takes a leaf out of the German FA’s book.
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