Teams | January 1, 1970 at 01:00 AM

We want to find the next Arne Maier

Academy Director Benjamin Weber looks back on 2017.

Berlin –Although not in public eye like the professional first team, the Hertha BSC Football Academy is a key element of the club’s success. Coaches and staff working in the blue-white talent factory are doing a great deal, and very successfully. Rarely have so many young players from their own academy made it into professional football within a year. The main person responsible is academy Director Benjamin Weber, he said: ͞I think the year has gone really well, but we can never stop improving.͟At the end of 2017, herthabsc.de spoke to Benjamin Weber about the academy’s successful year. The Academy Director spoke about the recent success of the academy, youth and team sports, competing with other academies and the infrastructure improvements at the club. Herthabsc.de: A very successful academy year is coming to an end. Are you pleased with how the year has gone? Benjamin Weber: We can be proud of everything that we have achieved. Maximillian Mittelstädt, Jordan Torunarigha, Arne Maier, Julius Kade, Florian Baak and Pálko Dárdai have all made the break through the academy to reach the professional squad and Sidney Friede and Maurice Covic should be at that level soon. We are really pleased that are young players are making so much progress at the club, but also with their international youth sides with many of them playing at major youth tournaments this summer. Herthabsc.de: A lot of Hertha youth players have been making international appearances...Weber: Maxi Mittelstädt and Jordan Torunarigha represented Germany at the under-20 World Cup Championships in South Korea, Frieda at the under-19 European Championships in Georgia whilst Dennis Jasztrembski, Jessic Ngankam and Luis Klatte all featured at the under-17 World Cup Championships. This is exactly what we want our young players to do. We want them to come out of our academy and break into the world of professional football. Herthabsc.de: Other organisations are aware of the academy’s success now too. Weber: Yes. We are really pleased that our academy work has been evaluated as excellent by the DFL and the DFB (German Football Association). Herthabsc.de: It is very unusual that so many young talents have made their way into the first team. Why have so many of them come through this year in particular? Weber: There are various reasons. The first one being the club’s philosophy that we have written on the flag. Namely, that we are a training club and this concept is support by everyone – by the management of Michael Preetz, the coaching of Pàl Dárdai – who comes, as so often mentioned, from our academy – Ante Covic as a career coach and link between the professionals and the entire coaching and club staff. That is something truly unique.

Also, competing in the Europa League gives young talents the chance to showcase themselves as the coach has to widen his squad. I think we provide young players with the perfect set-up to develop into professional footballers here at Hertha BSC. Herthabsc.de: Breaking through the academy and establishing yourself as a professional are two different things...Weber: You can see how difficult it is when you observe how Maxi Mittelstädt is getting on. He has made an important step and is now playing with the professionals even though he is only 20 years old. He is regularly featuring for the first team; however, you cannot call yourself a Bundesliga player just because you made your first appearance at 17 or 18 years old. It is our task as a club, and as an academy, to continue to support these players. The most important thing is that they are playing consistently every weekend. Pàl Dárdai makes regular contact with career coach Ante Covic and under-19 coach Michael Hartmann to ensure all players are on the right track. Many young players train with the professionals during the week and if they don’t play in the Bundesliga at the weekend, they play with the U23s or U19s instead. Herthabsc.de: It is nearly the turn of the new year. What goals and ambitions do you have for the academy in 2018? Weber: The challenge for us next year is to ensure that we keep improving all areas of the academy, even if we are already working at a very high level. Our goal is to find the next Arne Maier.

Berlin – Although not in public eye like the professional first team, the Hertha BSC Football Academy is a key element of the club’s success. Coaches and staff working in the blue-white talent factory are doing a great deal, and very successfully. Rarely have so many young players from their own academy made it into professional football within a year. The main person responsible is academy Director Benjamin Weber, he said: I think the year has gone really well, but we can never stop improving. At the end of 2017, herthabsc.de spoke to Benjamin Weber about the academy’s successful year. The Academy Director spoke about the recent success of the academy, youth and team sports, competing with other academies and the infrastructure improvements at the club.

Herthabsc.de: A very successful academy year is coming to an end. Are you pleased with how the year has gone?

Benjamin Weber: We can be proud of everything that we have achieved. Maximillian Mittelstädt, Jordan Torunarigha, Arne Maier, Julius Kade, Florian Baak and Pálko Dárdai have all made the break through the academy to reach the professional squad and Sidney Friede and Maurice Covic should be at that level soon. We are really pleased that are young players are making so much progress at the club, but also with their international youth sides with many of them playing at major youth tournaments this summer.

Herthabsc.de: A lot of Hertha youth players have been making international appearances...

Weber: Maxi Mittelstädt and Jordan Torunarigha represented Germany at the under-20 World Cup Championships in South Korea, Frieda at the under-19 European Championships in Georgia whilst Dennis Jasztrembski, Jessic Ngankam and Luis Klatte all featured at the under-17 World Cup Championships. This is exactly what we want our young players to do. We want them to come out of our academy and break into the world of professional football.

Herthabsc.de: Other organisations are aware of the academy’s success now too.

Weber: Yes. We are really pleased that our academy work has been evaluated as excellent by the DFL and the DFB (German Football Association).

Herthabsc.de: It is very unusual that so many young talents have made their way into the first team. Why have so many of them come through this year in particular?

Weber: There are various reasons. The first one being the club’s philosophy that we have written on the flag. Namely, that we are a training club and this concept is support by everyone – by the management of Michael Preetz, the coaching of Pàl Dárdai – who comes, as so often mentioned, from our academy – Ante Covic as a career coach and link between the professionals and the entire coaching and club staff. That is something truly unique.
Also, competing in the Europa League gives young talents the chance to showcase themselves as the coach has to widen his squad. I think we provide young players with the perfect set-up to develop into professional footballers here at Hertha BSC.

Herthabsc.de: Breaking through the academy and establishing yourself as a professional are two different things...

Weber: You can see how difficult it is when you observe how Maxi Mittelstädt is getting on. He has made an important step and is now playing with the professionals even though he is only 20 years old. He is regularly featuring for the first team; however, you cannot call yourself a Bundesliga player just because you made your first appearance at 17 or 18 years old. It is our task as a club, and as an academy, to continue to support these players. The most important thing is that they are playing consistently every weekend. Pàl Dárdai makes regular contact with career coach Ante Covic and under-19 coach Michael Hartmann to ensure all players are on the right track. Many young players train with the professionals during the week and if they don’t play in the Bundesliga at the weekend, they play with the U23s or U19s instead.

Herthabsc.de: It is nearly the turn of the new year. What goals and ambitions do you have for the academy in 2018?

Weber: The challenge for us next year is to ensure that we keep improving all areas of the academy, even if we are already working at a very high level. Our goal is to find the next Arne Maier.

by Hertha BSC