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Pre-Match Report

U19s to kick off the DFB Youth League against RW Essen

A new era begins for German youth football this weekend: the U19 DFB Youth League will begin play, replacing the three-division Bundesliga after 21 years. Borussia Dortmund will kick off the season on Sunday (4 August, 11:00 CEST, live on Sky) with a home match against Rot-Weiss Essen.

Other opponents in Group C are FC Schalke 04, MSV Duisburg, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Preußen Münster, SV Meppen and TSV Meerbusch. At the end of this round, which will be played in first and second legs, the new division will be split into League A and League B. The top three teams in the eight regional preliminary round groups will qualify for the main round of League A. These 24 clubs will then be divided into four groups of six clubs, with the top four teams in each group then progressing to the round of 16 for the German championship and playing off for the title in a knockout system.

The initiators of this reform, which guarantees all 56 performance centres of German professional football a starting place in the DFB Youth League and gives coaches the opportunity to substitute seven players, hope that the new mode will above all improve the individual development of the talented players "because they will be relieved of the pressure of relegation and will be able to focus on individual development," as DFB Youth Sports Director Hannes Wolf argues.

The coaches of the top clubs, on the other hand, fear that the young players will be underchallenged in the first half of the season. Like Mike Tullberg from BVB, who expressed his scepticism: "We treat all opponents with the utmost respect, but the number of top matches in the preliminary round is very manageable. On the other hand, we first have to earn the top games in the main round, which we definitely want to reach."

Tullberg: "We have to earn top games"

Tullberg is expecting a special season for Borussia's U19s, who are also involved in the DFB-Pokal (first round against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, 31 August, 11 a.m.) and the UEFA Youth League. "Maybe it's not a bad thing that we have more time to develop our lads and get used to the routines in the U19s. We're basically an U18 team and are physically inferior to our opponents. But the boys have a lot of talent and are really keen," explains Tullberg with regard to his extremely young squad, which is primarily made up of the players who won the German U17 Championship last season. In terms of physicality, tackling intensity, speed and quickness of action, they naturally have some catching up to do. "They are making progress every day," says Tullberg.

In the opening game against RW Essen, only two players from the older age group are expected to be in the starting line-up: goalkeeper Robin Lisewski and defender Almugera Kabar. Striker Cole Campbell has travelled with the professionals to the training camp in Bad Ragaz. U17 World Cup winner Kabar, along with Tyler Meiser and Elias Benkara (both 17), spent most of the preparation with the professionals. They were rewarded for their good performances by taking part in the trip to Asia and have been back in the U19 squad since this week.

"We're looking forward to the start of the season and naturally want to make it a success," assures Mike Tullberg.

(wiwi)

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