Bayern Munich reaping rewards from world-class youth academy

Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Alaba, Toni Kroos, and Thomas Müller – what do all these names have in common? Well for one, they’ve all played for Bayern Munich, but more interestingly they’ve all been produced by the club’s youth academy. 

For a fan, not many things are better than seeing a promising youth player rise through the ranks and make it to the senior team. It reinforces the club's identity and culture. On the business side of things, it can be a source of income through sales and also through the potential saving of funds when a homegrown player fills a position in the senior team.

Bayern Munich’s academy, operating at the new FC Bayern campus since 2017, isn’t as renowned as Barcelona’s La Masia or the academies of Manchester City and Chelsea who have produced an incredible number of elite prospects in recent years but it is still a very vital part of Germany’s biggest football club, and over the course of last decade, has massive strides towards excellence. Some of its recent successes can be evidenced by the following list of players:

Aleksander Pavlović (20, FC Bayern Munich)

Bayern’s desperate cry for a defensive midfielder was answered in the form of academy talent Aleksander Pavlović, who after the failed transfer attempt of Joao Palhinha, was given a healthy amount of minutes by Thomas Tuchel in the 2023/24 season.

He performed outstandingly in both the defensive and offensive aspects of his role. This season, even after the arrival of Palhinha, new manager Vincent Kompany trusts the 20-year-old and starts him regularly. From a ball boy to a first-team starter, Pavlović’s journey has been the stuff of dreams.