Mr Meyer, this week you received money from the German Football League because Oscar Schönfelder, a former youth player of yours, made his debut as a licensed player in the second Bundesliga in the 2021/22 season. how much did you get
David Lindenfeld
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That was 13,500 euros.
The money is distributed depending on the years the player has played at a club.
There is a training allowance for each year.
From the sixth to the eleventh year it is 4200 euros.
After that, it increases to 5,400 euros, because it is assumed that the training intensity also increases with age.
Are you benefiting from the DFL's training bonus for the first time?
No, we only recently received financial support for Tim Lemperle, who is currently playing for 1. FC Köln.
Such funds help us to further intensify our youth work.
Both in terms of quantity, by building more teams and installing girls' and women's teams, and in terms of quality, by increasing the intensity, i.e. increasing the frequency of training.
The DFL turns over billions and distributes 1.5 million euros to 106 amateur clubs. Is that fair?
It is a first step in the right direction, especially since it has only existed in this form for a few years.
In the two cases mentioned, we are among the lucky beneficiaries of this system, but in my opinion it does not do justice to smaller clubs and the youth work there.
Because that's where very good training work is often done, and many players go to the higher leagues.
However, very few make it into the professional sector.
Unfortunately, these clubs go away empty-handed.
It's easier said than done, but I would like a more goal-oriented system that promotes and rewards youth work in the long term.
In the long run, the DFL would also benefit more if amateur clubs produced better players.
That's right, of course the DFL benefits when better players appear in the professional leagues.
However, the DFL does not necessarily have an advantage if they are players who also grew up in the clubs here in Germany.
It is in the interest of the DFL to market the professional leagues in the best possible way.
And that works best when so-called top stars, also from abroad, come to the league.
You have to realize what the goal of this business enterprise is.
Of course, this does not coincide with our goals as a mass sports club.
You just have to be realistic about it and accept that you can't force anything on a commercial enterprise.
What are you going to do with the money?
When I see that other clubs want to build new sports facilities with this money, I ask myself how it can be done with so little (laughs).
Makkabi Frankfurt is finally building its own sports facility.
So I know from my own experience that we are talking about much higher amounts here.
The funds from the DFL don't really help and, in my opinion, aren't intended for that either.
We will invest it in our youth work, increase and modernize the training quality and thus enable an improved training offer for our members, above all, of course, for the children.
Are you still in contact with players like Oscar Schönfelder?
We are in contact with all the players, including Oscar and Tim, of course.
I think that's an essential difference to other clubs that operate in mass sport with a support concept or a youth academy.
Despite our now considerable size, we are a family association.
Behind every member there is a name and a face - and not just a membership number with a membership fee.
This is probably also the reason for our constant growth, especially in the junior area.
These close personal connections are part of our association work.
Oscar is certainly one of our best examples, also for the openness of our association, which is Jewish in character, but open to everyone.
Oscar, as a gentile player, enjoyed his years with us.
Not just with him
but with his whole family the connection remains.
And by the way, we have already produced the next talent with Christian Kouam.
He is now under contract with FC Bayern Munich and will hopefully make his Bundesliga debut soon.