Acum, când o finală germană e în cărţi, e timpul potrivit să ne aducem aminte cum s-a ajuns aici. După Euro 2000, când Germania era eliminată dintr-o grupă cu Anglia şi România, nemţii şi-au dat seama că ceva trebuie schimbat. Dintr-un articol mai vechi al lui Rafa Honigstein:
The German FA realized that something had to be done. It looked at the French system and decided that something similar was needed. In May 1999, FA vice president Beckenbauer, first-team manager Ribbeck, Bayer Leverkusen general manager Reiner Calmund and FA Director of Youth Development Dietrich Weise presented a new concept for producing young German footballers. All across the country, 121 national talent centers would be built to help 10- to 17-year-olds with technical practice. Each center would employ two full-time coaches at a cost of $15.6 million over five years. The second key point was a new requirement for all 36 professional clubs in Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 to build youth academies.
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