Over recent years, FC Bayern has developed a pathway that offers young talents around the world a realistic and structured path into professional football. The aim is to identify players at an early stage, support them through various stages of development, and provide them with a platform from which they can take the next step towards professional football.
As the FC Bayern Campus and its youth teams are not open to every talented player, this pathway creates additional opportunities to showcase potential on an international stage, develop it in a targeted manner, and pave the way for a professional career. It begins at a young age with national and international camps, where the focus is initially on enjoying the game. At the same time, these programmes serve to scout talent over an extended period and provide long-term support for their development.
The FC Bayern Youth Cup serves as a key gateway to competitive football. As one of the most established international youth tournaments run by a European football club, it offers U16 players from all over the world the chance to showcase their talent on the big stage. Since its launch in 2012, the competition has been organised in collaboration with FC Bayern partners across numerous countries. From Nigeria to China, more than 100,000 players from over 15 countries have now taken part. For many of them, the Youth Cup was far more than just a tournament – it was the first crucial step within the FC Bayern Pathway.
To ensure that young players do not get lost after this initial scouting and competition phase, the pathway has been consistently refined over recent years. The FC Bayern Global Academy plays a key role in this, specifically bridging the gap between the U16 and U19 age groups. Top international talents who stand out at camps, through partner organisations or at the FC Bayern Youth Cup and other events, are given the opportunity here to develop further under professional conditions over a period of several months. At the FC Bayern Campus, they receive support in sporting, academic and personal matters and are gradually introduced to the demands of competitive European football.
The next stage in this development pathway is the FC Bayern World Squad. In this international project, the German record champions, together with their partner Audi, select U19 players from all over the world and support them on their journey towards professional football. Under the guidance of experienced coaches such as Roy Makaay and Diego Contento, the players are given the opportunity to showcase their talents in a professional environment at the highest level. The World Squad is therefore the final stage within the FC Bayern Pathway and offers selected prospects the greatest possible international platform. Recent years have impressively demonstrated the impact this project can have. Players such as Daniel Francis, Viktor Orakpo, Sebastian Dabrowski and Giovanni de Abreu have gone on to make the leap to professional club structures following their participation.
Maycon Cardozo’s career path illustrates particularly well how this pathway can work in practice. The attacking player was born in São Paulo and spent most of his childhood in Thailand, where he trained at the STB Sports Thai Bavaria Academy – a partner academy of FC Bayern. Thanks to his performances, Maycon was initially recommended for the Global Academy, where he continued to develop in a professional and international environment. The next step saw him given the chance to prove himself in the FC Bayern World Squad.
Despite his young age, he immediately made a name for himself there. Makaay, who coached him in the World Squad, recognised his exceptional potential early on. Following a trial with the U17s, he eventually earned a contract with FC Bayern, moved up to the U19s, gained playing experience with the reserves, and from October 2025 onwards trained regularly with the first team.
His Bundesliga debut against Borussia Mönchengladbach was therefore not the start of a surprise success story, but the interim result of a long-term development programme. Maycon is a prime example of what the FC Bayern Pathway is designed to achieve: identifying talent worldwide, providing targeted support and enabling them to make the leap into professional football through clear stages of development.
At the same time, the Pathway also demonstrates that there is not just one linear career path. Not every player ends up at FC Bayern straight away. Rather, the model opens up a variety of individual opportunities – whether through professional football contracts, a move to international academies, entry into performance-oriented college programmes in the USA, or other sustainable development pathways in top-level football. This is precisely where the strength of the FC Bayern Pathway lies. It is not a one-dimensional selection model, but an internationally oriented development concept with realistic and long-term prospects.