FC Bayern Football School
In mid-April 2019, FC Bayern announced the opening of a new FC Bayern Football School in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The partnership with the responsible Ethiopian football association EFF includes a continuous exchange of experience as well as regular presence of FC Bayern youth coaches for the training of local players and coaches in Addis Ababa.
Jörg Wacker, former Member of the Board for Internationalisation and Strategy of FC Bayern München AG, and FCB Ambassador Giovane Elber accompanied the official delegation of Bavarian Minister President Dr. Markus Söder. Wacker signed an agreement to this effect at the Yidnekachew Tessema Stadium Addis Ababa as part of a youth tournament of U17 teams organised by FC Bayern. Afterwards the symbolic kick-off of the "FC Bayern Football School Addis Ababa" took place in the presence of the Bavarian Minister President as well as representatives of the national football association and the Ministry of Sports.
Minister President Dr. Markus Söder commented: "FC Bayern Munich is one of Bavaria's biggest flagships. With the FC Bayern Football School in Addis Ababa, Bavarian football know-how now meets a sports-loving nation. This is a good foundation stone for a promising partnership."
"With the FC Bayern Football School Addis Ababa we are opening our first football school of this kind in Africa," said Jörg Wacker. "This gives us the opportunity to bring FC Bayern even closer to our fans in Africa and to make an important contribution to the development of football in Ethiopia with the help of our know-how".
After the USA, China, Thailand, Japan and Singapore, Ethiopia is the sixth country in which FC Bayern has established a football school.
Two FC Bayern coaches travelled to Ethiopia in the middle of September to hold the first official FC Bayern coaching courses in Addis Ababa. Over the course of two weeks, coaches from all over Ethiopia plus international players received thorough training and education. In addition to lessons on theory in the classroom, there were a large number of practical workshops plus training drills on the pitch. Everything was done with the aim of achieving the best possible communication of the successful youth philosophy and methods of the German record champions.
The participants enjoyed a special experience in the second week when they were able to learn from a 1990 World Cup winner and absolute FC Bayern legend: Hans Pflügler made the long journey to Ethiopia to support the coaching course. There will be further courses and exchanges in the coming months.
In mid-February, two international FC Bayern youth coaches made their way to Ethiopia. It was the third visit for the representatives of the record champions to the Horn of Africa. In addition to the first FC Bayern Youth Cup in Ethiopia, our coaches also planned two intensive courses with local coaches.
From 17-21 and 24-26 February, a total of 60 coaches took part in specific FC Bayern workshops in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. The international instruction and training plan for local coaches provides both practical sessions on the pitch and theoretical lessons and exchanges in the classroom. We saw an innovative feature in the second course: It was carried out with 24 coaches from the top division of the national football association of Ethiopia, the Premier League.
FC Bayern Youth Cup
The FC Bayern Youth Cup is the world's biggest and oldest international youth football tournament series carried out by a football club. In 2012 the tournament took place for the first time and has been conducted eight times since its start.
In 2020, the time had come for the first edition of the FC Bayern Youth Cup in Ethiopia. The national final of the world's oldest and largest club-organised youth tournament was held on 27 and 28 February in Addis Ababa. 16 teams of ten players each qualified in advance over two qualifying rounds and were cheered on by more than 2,000 spectators. For the ten best players selected by our FCB coaches - Lars Weichert and Christopher Loch - there was a ticket to the FC Bayern World Youth Cup Final.
At the World Final in Munich the boys will compete against the other international teams and will also complete an extensive supporting program full of highlights: This includes training sessions with the international youth coaches, a meet & greet with players, an FC Bayern first team home game, intercultural exchanges, sightseeing and much more! We look forward to welcoming “Team Ethiopia” to Munich!
In 2020, due to the COVID-19-Pandemic, the 9th consecutive edition of the Youth Cup sadly had to be rescheduled. We are hoping to bring the project back to Ethiopia in 2021 and see the Ethiopian team compete in the world final.