Less pressure, more fun in the game (nd-aktuell.de)

Ronny Zimmermann thinks that football is actually a very simple game. Especially for children. They should “have the ball at their feet as often as possible, actively participate in the game and score as many goals as possible”. But that is usually not guaranteed in the youth field. Many adults would even remember their youth, says the Vice President responsible for children’s and youth football at the German Football Association (DFB), when the weakest players on the team often just stood around. This grievance, which inevitably leads to many kickers turning their backs on football at a young age, is now to be remedied. The 60-year-old functionary Zimmermann drums incessantly for this. According to the decision at the DFB Federal Youth Day last weekend, a revolution is to be initiated at the 44th ordinary Bundestag of the DFB, which was moved from Frankfurt to Bonn on March 11th: There should be no more league games and tables, but then game afternoons and festivals aligned.

The plan is for smaller teams from G, F to E youth to play on smaller fields and on mini goals. This should bring more ball contacts and more sense of achievement. Germany finally wants to create the status quo that has long been common in Switzerland, for example, in order to promote the football field mentality. Well over 500,000 registered players nationwide are affected. In the future, kicking will only be played in two-on-two, three-on-three or four-on-four at the beginning, only later in five-on-five or seven-on-seven. During practice runs at his home club VfB Wiesloch in Baden-Württemberg, Zimmermann didn’t look at the faces of the coaches or parents, but observed the children: “They had fun. And that’s what it’s about!«

The DFB has gone through a two-year pilot phase with the participation of all 21 state associations – and is now getting serious from the 2024/2025 season. It is said that critics who once accused the umbrella organization of destroying football are now making much more differentiated arguments. Zimmermann says: »We have to think like children, not like adults. The reform is intended to strengthen football as a whole and its clubs at grassroots level in the long term.«

And there is another important side effect: the importance of headers is rapidly decreasing. These should be drastically reduced at a young age – in contrast to the contacts on the feet – because there are indications of long-term damage up to frequent dementia in old age based on studies from Great Britain. Although DFB doctor and national team doctor Tim Meyer does not generally advise against headers in adult football and does not want to impose a ban on under-12s like in England, he recommends significantly less headers in training and games for children and youth. The reform comes at just the right time: the smaller the playing field, the less important the header game is. If there is no goal kick, no throw-in and no corners, there are hardly any duels in the air. This protects the little ones, who should instead learn to “head with brains” in order to master the basic technique. For this purpose, balloons or light balls are thrown.

Florian Weißmann, an expert from the DFB youth committee, does not deny that there is still a lot of convincing to be done when reforming children’s football with role models from other countries. The resistance in the 21 state associations was “sometimes brutal”. There is still a lot to be drilled at the base, a number of football circles would continue to block themselves, “they have to be convinced.” And of course “every club, every coach – there’s still a demanding road ahead of us.” Weißmann finds: “The German has difficulties showing himself open to changes.” For Zimmermann there is no longer an alternative, because: “Our goal is not to lose any more players from the D youth perspective.”

After all, the corona pandemic has not spared football either. Compared to 2019, the DFB lost almost five percent of its 1.6 million members under the age of 18 in 2021. In percentage terms, this is roughly the same as in other sports such as gymnastics, tennis, athletics or handball. At 7.3 percent, the greatest drop was seen in football among 15 to 18 year olds. Explanation: This is where the second lockdown had the strongest effect, there was no training, let alone games.

In retrospect, Zimmermann regrets that German football has also emphasized like a mantra that sport is part of the solution, but that the argument has disappeared under the “big roller”. Even today it is “exhausting” to talk to politicians about the great importance of sport and exercise. And he was shocked at “what little importance mass sport enjoys in crucial places”. He demands: “That has to change. Fundamental.« Because the almost 25,000 clubs have to fight harder than ever for every kicker, as Weißmann puts it strikingly: »Football and the fire brigade are no longer the only offer in the village.« A ray of hope: In the children’s area from six to eleven years it works Number of active players up again this season.

Especially for boys from families with a migration background, football remains by far the most interesting sport, which also promotes integration most easily. One problem, however, is getting the girls excited about the number one popular sport. Despite increased media attention for women’s football, the number there has fallen dramatically. From the 2016/2017 season to the 2020/2021 season, the number of active players more than halved from 279,640 to 131,467. For girls alone there has been a drop of 40,000 players in the past five years – and the dangerous negative trend is unbroken. Zimmermann admits that “we haven’t found a solution yet” on this issue, which is very threatening for German women’s football in the long term.