The year 2024 is already on the horizon. Starting this summer, the DFB reform will take effect in youth soccer. Mathias Schober, head of youth development at Schalke 04, has this to say about it.

From the coming season, the junior national leagues are history. They will be replaced by the DFB junior leagues for U17 and U19 juniors at the start of the 2024/2025 season.

Norbert Elgert, coach of the FC Schalke 04 U19 team, is known to be no great fan of the reform. The cult coach would have preferred to leave it at the current arrangement. Now Mathias Schober, head of the Knappenschmiede youth academy, has also commented on the matter. “Overall, we were satisfied with the previous structure. Especially here in the western leagues, we have so far had short distances to our opponents,” Schober said in an interview with club media.

That will change. In the future, there will be two seasonal phases. After a regional preliminary round, the wheat will be separated from the chaff. Then, in the second half of the season, there will be a league A and a league B.

In league A, 24 teams will be divided into groups with two-way matches. The top four teams in each group will then play in the knockout round to determine the German champions.

From the point of view of S04, the reform, which is intended to consolidate the top performance, would not have been necessary. “Nevertheless, we are very excited about the new reform, will accept the innovations and try to build on our successes in the A and B junior Bundesliga last year,” explained Schober.

All clubs that avoid relegation in the current U19 and U17 Bundesliga seasons will qualify for the new competition. They will be joined by the promoted teams without a youth academy from the lower leagues.

Another new feature is that teams with a youth academy can no longer be relegated and will automatically take part in the DFB Youth League again in the following year. From the 2025/26 season, the eleven best teams from the lower leagues will join the league in the second half of the season after the first half of the season.

Clubs without an NLZ that qualify for League A during the course of a season or that finish in the top four places in League B at the end of the season also automatically retain their starting place for the following year.

FC Schalke 04 is currently in first place with the U17s after the first half of the season and in third place with the U19s. This means that both teams would compete in League A in the second half of the season next year.