Just moments 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 net for Borussia Dortmund. The sheer elation on his face was instantly echoed back at the club's academy, where academy director Paul Schaffran watched the celebration on a screen. "When our youngsters break into the first team, it lifts everyone’s spirits," he told Sky Sports during a recent interview at the team’s Liverpool hotel ahead of a development game. Reggiani’s breakthrough is part of a broader pattern that the club is deliberately fostering.
Another 18‑year‑old Italian, Samuele Inacio, made his Bundesliga debut against Bayern Munich earlier this year, and the club’s staff were quick to note his readiness. Six‑year‑old prodigy Mathis Albert, only 16, earned his first senior appearance against Freiburg last Sunday, while 17‑year‑old Mussa Kaba is poised to follow suit very soon. "Mussa has been with us since he was 11 and I rate him extremely highly," Schaffran explained, emphasizing that the academy now blends home‑grown talent with carefully selected imports.
"We want to build players from the ground up, but we also need strong pillars of experience and scouting to support that process." The academy’s recruitment strategy reflects this dual approach. Inacio arrived from Atalanta, while Reggiani was signed from Sassuolo. Schaffran highlighted a specific challenge for young Italian centre‑backs: "In Italy the average centre‑back is well into his thirties, so an 18‑year‑old like Luca would rarely get the minutes he needs at the top level back home. Here, he can develop much faster." Dortmund’s reputation as a finishing school for talent is not new – the likes of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham both moved to the Ruhr to accelerate their rise.
However, recent pressure to deliver results has forced the club to rethink its first‑team recruitment and lean even more heavily on its youth pipeline. The heightened competition from other clubs means Dortmund must discover and polish gems at a younger age, placing greater responsibility on Schaffran’s team to refine their development methods. "We have completely overhauled our vision and the way we nurture players," Schaffran said. "Previously we were almost 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 philosophy flips the old model on its head. Instead of shielding youngsters from difficult situations, Dortmund now deliberately throws them into the most demanding environments possible, believing that early exposure to adversity will smooth the transition to senior football. "We want to give them the toughest challenges at youth level so that the end of the process feels easier," he explained. "It’s a massive shift in our thinking." The results of this shift are evident in the composition of Dortmund’s youth squads.
The club currently fields the youngest under‑17 and under‑19 teams in Germany, and its side in the Premier League International Cup is also the youngest in that competition. While this means they are unlikely to win trophies in those tournaments, Schaffran stresses that this is intentional.
"We’re not doing it just to be the youngest. Over‑challenging players forces them to adapt quickly. If you under‑challenge them for too long they will never learn to cope with higher intensity, physicality, or tactical complexity." Adaptation, however, comes with a trade‑off. During periods of adjustment, a player’s impact on the game naturally drops, reducing the likelihood of winning matches at that age group.
Yet the upside is a significant boost in developmental potential. "Every time you are in an adaptation phase you are less efficient on the pitch, but the developmental gains are far greater," Schaffran noted. A cornerstone of this new approach is the use of bio‑banding, a scientific method that assesses a player’s skeletal age through ultrasound analysis rather than relying solely on chronological age.
This allows Dortmund to place each youngster in a competition group that truly matches their physical maturity. Six years ago the academy’s cohort consisted of 35% early developers, 60% average, and only 5% late developers – a distribution that reflected a bias toward early physical maturation rather than pure talent.
"The biggest lesson from bio‑banding was for our coaches and scouts," Schaffran said. "It forced them to re‑evaluate how they assess potential. A 14‑year‑old who looks small and gets bullied on the ball might actually possess the technical ability to excel later on." One anonymous player illustrates the impact of this shift.
Under the old system he would have been rejected for being slower than his peers, but with the new emphasis on individual development timelines, he now has a realistic pathway to senior football. Schaffran admitted that the club initially considered imposing quotas for early, normal, and late developers, but ultimately chose education over rigid numbers.
The result this year is a balanced mix: roughly 15% early developers, 70% average, and 15% late developers. Balancing individual progress with team performance can be tricky. When Inacio and Albert performed exceptionally well for the under‑19s, they were quickly promoted to the next level to keep their development on track.
Albert, in particular, has shown remarkable adaptability. He featured in Dortmund’s Club World Cup squad, represented the United States at the Under‑17 World Cup, and has already played for the club’s under‑19 and under‑23 sides in domestic and international fixtures. "He has experienced so many different environments in a short time and keeps stepping up," Schaffran observed.
Promoting talent early can be painful for youth coaches, who lose their best players just as they are dominating their age group. Schaffran acknowledged this tension: "If we kept them just to win games, they would stay, but our priority is development, not short‑term results." The alignment between the academy and the first‑team hierarchy has improved under the leadership of former academy chief Rudi Ricken, now a key decision‑maker for the senior squad. Schaffran regularly attends first‑team squad planning meetings, ensuring that youth prospects remain on the radar. Ricken himself has been instrumental in recruiting several of the current academy stars, smoothing their transition to the club.
The emotional payoff of this system was evident when Schaffran saw Reggiani’s joyous celebration after his goal against Augsburg. "Luca returned to the academy and celebrated with the under‑12‑to‑15 groups the next day," Schaffran said proudly.
The club’s “conveyor belt” of talent is once again humming, delivering hope to fans and reinforcing Dortmund’s reputation as a breeding ground for future stars. Overall, Dortmund’s revamp demonstrates that a deliberate focus on early, challenging exposure, scientific assessment of physical maturity, and a seamless link between academy and senior staff can create a sustainable pipeline of home‑grown talent.
By prioritising long‑term development over immediate youth‑team trophies, the club aims to produce well‑rounded, adaptable players capable of thriving in the fast‑paced, physically demanding world of modern football.