Just before the hour mark in the match against Augsburg, with the familiar roar of 81,365 fans filling the stadium, 18‑year‑old defender Luca Reggiani found the back of the net for Borussia Dortmund. The sheer delight on his face was instantly echoed back at the club's academy by director Paul Schaffran. "Seeing our youngsters break into the first team lifts everyone's spirits," Schaffran told Sky Sports.
As the academy director, he explained that Reggiani is part of a broader pattern that the club has deliberately cultivated. Another teenager, 18‑year‑old Italian Samuele Inacio, made his Bundesliga debut against Bayern Munich in February and, according to Schaffran, "has already shown he belongs at this level." Six‑year‑old prodigy Mathis Albert, only 16, earned his first senior minutes against Freiburg last Sunday, while 17‑year‑old Mussa Kaba is on the brink of his own breakthrough.
"Mussa has been with us since he was 11 and I rate him very highly," Schaffran said. The three youngsters mentioned above were not home‑grown; they were recruited from outside the club.
"Our philosophy is to build players from the ground up, but we also need the pillars that come from external talent," he added, noting that the clear pathway to the senior side is a major draw for prospects. Inacio arrived from Atalanta, while Reggiani came from Sassuolo. Schaffran pointed out that in Italy the average centre‑back is often past 30, making it extremely difficult for an 18‑year‑old defender to secure regular minutes in Serie A. Dortmund, by contrast, can offer those chances much earlier.
The concept of Dortmund as a "finishing school" is not new – stars such as Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham used the club as a springboard to global fame. However, recent pressure to deliver results forced the club to rethink its first‑team recruitment strategy, and the solution has been to look even younger for hidden gems. This shift places a heavier responsibility on Schaffran and his staff to mould these raw talents.
"We completely overhauled our vision and the way we develop players," Schaffran explained. "In the past we were obsessed with winning at every youth level. But a victory at under‑17 level means nothing if the player does not become a Bundesliga professional." The new approach flips that mindset on its head: the academy now deliberately subjects its players to the toughest challenges possible at youth level, believing that early adversity will smooth the transition to senior football. The results of that philosophy are already visible.
Dortmund now fields the youngest under‑17 squad in Germany, the youngest under‑19 side as well, and even the youngest team in the Premier League International Cup. Schaffran admits they are not there to win trophies; they are there to be over‑challenged. "We are not doing this because it looks good to be the youngest team," he said.
"If you under‑challenge a player for too long, he never learns to adapt, and his development stalls. By constantly pushing them into new, more physical and faster environments, we force them to grow. Inevitably, during those adaptation phases the players will be less efficient and the odds of winning will drop, but the upside for their long‑term progress skyrockets." A key tool in this new methodology is bio‑banding. Dortmund uses ultrasound scans to determine each player's true skeletal age, allowing the academy to place them in groups that match their physical maturity rather than their chronological age.
Six years ago the academy’s composition was heavily skewed: about 35% of the cohort were early developers, 60% fell into the average range and fewer than five percent were late developers. The data revealed a bias toward early maturers, not necessarily the most talented. "The biggest lesson from bio‑banding was for our coaches and scouts," Schaffran noted.
"It forced them to reassess how they evaluate talent. A 14‑year‑old who looks small now but possesses exceptional skill will now be given the time to develop, rather than being dismissed because he is being out‑muscled by peers." He gave an anonymous example of a player who would have been cut under the old system because he was slower than his teammates. By allowing him to progress at his own pace, the academy now believes he could eventually reach the top level. Instead of imposing quotas, Dortmund focused on education.
This year the academy achieved a balanced distribution: roughly 15% early developers, 70% average, and 15% late developers. The shift has already produced tangible outcomes. Inacio and Albert impressed enough at under‑19 level that they were promoted to the next tier, exposing them to higher‑intensity competition. Albert’s journey exemplifies the club’s multi‑environmental approach.
He featured for Dortmund’s squad at the Club World Cup, represented the United States at the Under‑17 World Cup, and has since played for the under‑19s and under‑23s, both domestically and abroad. "He thrives on varied experiences and keeps stepping up," Schaffran said. Admittedly, promoting the best youngsters can be painful for the youth teams, which lose their top performers. Schaffran admitted, "If we only cared about winning at youth level, we would keep them.
But our metric is development, not trophies." The alignment between the academy and the first team has been strengthened under former academy chief Rudi Ricken, now a senior decision‑maker for the senior squad. Schaffran is regularly invited to first‑team squad‑planning meetings, ensuring a seamless pipeline for promising players.
Ricken’s involvement in recruiting many of the current academy prospects has also smoothed the transition, making it easier for young talents to envision a clear route to the senior side. The emotional payoff of this system was evident when Schaffran saw Reggiani’s jubilant face after his goal against Augsburg.
"Luca returned to the academy and celebrated with the under‑12 to under‑15 groups," Schaffran recalled proudly. The club’s conveyor belt of talent is humming again, driven by a philosophy that values challenge, scientific assessment, and a long‑term view over short‑term silverware. In summary, Dortmund’s academy transformation rests on three pillars: giving youngsters early first‑team exposure, using bio‑banding to place players in physically appropriate groups, and deliberately over‑challenging them to accelerate adaptation. By doing so, the club hopes to continue producing the next generation of Bundesliga‑ready players, keeping the tradition of youth development alive while staying competitive at the highest level.