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 elation on his face was instantly echoed back at the club’s academy by director Paul Schaffran.
"When we promote our youngsters to the first team it lifts everyone’s spirits," Schaffran told Sky Sports. As the academy director, he explained that Reggiani’s breakthrough is part of a broader pattern that Dortmund has deliberately cultivated.
Another 18‑year‑old Italian, Samuele Inacio, made his Bundesliga debut against Bayern Munich in February, and the club’s prodigy Mathis Albert, only 16, earned his first senior appearance versus Freiburg last Sunday. Seventeen‑year‑old Mussa Kaba is also on the cusp of a debut. "He has been with us since he was eleven and I rate him very highly," Schaffran said, noting that three of the recent debutants were recruited from outside the club. "We want to build players from the ground up, but we need both home‑grown talent and external signings.
The key is that they see a clear pathway here." Inacio arrived from Atalanta, while Reggiani came from Sassuolo. Schaffran highlighted the rarity of an 18‑year‑old centre‑back breaking into senior football in Italy, where the average age for that position is well over 30. "It would be almost impossible for a youngster like Luca to get regular minutes in Serie A," he explained. Dortmund’s reputation as a "finishing school" is not new – the likes of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham used the club as a springboard to global stardom.
However, recent pressure to deliver results forced the club to rethink its first‑team recruitment strategy, prompting a shift toward even younger talent. This shift placed a heavier responsibility on Schaffran’s academy staff to refine and accelerate player development.
"We altered our vision and the way we develop players," Schaffran said. "Previously we were primarily focused on winning at youth level.
But winning an under‑17 match means nothing if the player does not become a Bundesliga‑ready professional." The new philosophy flips the old model on its head: instead of shielding youngsters from hardship, Dortmund now deliberately gives them the toughest challenges possible at youth level. "The idea is to over‑challenge them so that the transition to senior football feels easier," Schaffran explained. "If you under‑challenge a player for too long, they never learn how to adapt." According to Schaffran, Dortmund currently fields the youngest under‑17 and under‑19 squads in Germany, as well as the youngest team in the Premier League International Cup.
They do not expect to win that tournament; the purpose is developmental exposure. "Being the youngest is not a badge of honour in itself – it is a tool. When players are constantly pushed beyond their comfort zone, they learn to adjust to faster, more physical, and more complex games." One concrete element of this overhaul is the introduction of bio‑banding. By using ultrasound scans to determine each player’s skeletal age, Dortmund can place youngsters in groups that reflect their true physical maturity rather than their chronological age.
Six years ago, the academy’s composition was skewed: about 35% early developers, 60% average, and only 5% late developers. This distribution was largely a product of bias, not talent.
"The biggest lesson from bio‑banding was for our coaches and scouts," Schaffran noted. "They now evaluate players differently than they did two or three years ago." Scouts who once dismissed late‑maturing players because they were being out‑performed by early bloomers have learned to look beyond immediate dominance.
Schaffran gave an anonymous example of a player who would have been rejected under the old system because he was slower than his peers. After being allowed to develop at his own pace, that player now has a realistic chance of reaching the top level. Instead of imposing quotas, Dortmund focused on education and balanced representation. This season the academy achieved a distribution of roughly 15% early developers, 70% average, and 15% late developers – a more equitable mix that reflects natural variation.
The emphasis on individual growth sometimes means losing key players from youth squads. When Inacio and Albert performed exceptionally for the under‑19s, they were promoted to higher age groups. Albert’s versatility was on full display: he featured for Dortmund’s Club World Cup squad, represented the United States at the Under‑17 World Cup, and has oscillated between the under‑19s and under‑23s, gaining experience at home and abroad.
"He keeps stepping up in every new environment," Schaffran praised. Such promotions can be painful for the youth teams, as they lose their most influential contributors.
Schaffran admitted, "If we only cared about winning at youth level, we would have kept them. But our metric is development, not trophies." The alignment between the academy and the first team is reinforced by former academy chief Rudi Ricken, now a senior decision‑maker for the senior squad. Schaffran regularly attends first‑team squad planning meetings, ensuring that youth prospects remain on the radar. Ricken himself was instrumental in bringing many of the current youngsters to Dortmund, smoothing their integration.
When Schaffran saw Reggiani’s jubilant reaction after scoring against Augsburg, he recalled the youngster celebrating with the academy’s under‑12 to under‑15 groups just days earlier. "Luca’s joy was contagious for everyone back at the academy," Schaffran said proudly.
The club’s pipeline of talent is humming again, delivering fresh faces to the senior side and reaffirming Dortmund’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of football stars.