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This year’s FC Bayern World Squad has attracted almost 6,000 applications, twice as many as the previous year and almost ten times as many as the inaugural season.
The initiative, jointly organised by the German record champions and their partner Volkswagen, has more than established itself as a springboard for international talent at U-19 level.
The third edition will launch in 2023 with Roy Makaay as the new coach – and with a central message on the front of the jersey: With the inscription ‘Red against Racism’, FC Bayern want to send a signal for diversity and against discrimination of all kinds with this multicultural, forward-looking team as part of their club-wide initiative.
FC Bayern board member for marketing, sponsoring and events Andreas Jung said, “Together with Volkswagen, the main partner of this international lighthouse project, we want to use the FC Bayern World Squad to promote global football talent, give players from all over the world a chance to become professional footballers and contribute to cultural exchange. With this globally unique youth project, FC Bayern is once again highlighting the importance of the core values of inspiration, success and commitment. In this context, we are pleased to be sending out another signal for diversity with ‘Red against Racism’ on our jerseys. This team with young players from so many different nations is a great ambassador for open-mindedness and our club-wide initiative ‘Red against Racism’.”
Head of FC Bayern Campus Jochen Sauer said, “The FC Bayern World Squad project is the most important scouting project in the club’s niche area and has developed exceptionally well in its first two years. It’s an excellent springboard for international talent. In combination with the FC Bayern Youth Cup, our U16 tournament, FC Bayern can thus offer youngsters from all over the world a unique opportunity on their journey into professional football from a young age.”
This year, the 23 players born in 2005/06 come from 18 different nations. The FC Bayern World Squad will start off by travelling to Buenos Aires for a 12-day training camp, where three friendlies have been scheduled in the Argentinean capital. The talents play Estudiantes de la Plata on June 19, Diego Maradona’s first club Argentinos Juniors on June 23, and will on June 27 take on River Plate, where former FCB player and reserves coach Martin Demichelis (now part of the FC Bayern Legends) is the current head coach.
Back in Germany, a second training camp will take place from July 1 to 15, including friendlies against KSV Hessen Kassel (on July 5 at the DFB Academy in Frankfurt) and Hamburger SV (July 9 at the HSV Academy). The highlight match against the FC Bayern U-19s at the Allianz Arena is scheduled for July 15 this year – more information on this game will be announced later.
This year’s squad includes Ryan Ayoub, who plays for the reserve team of Los Angeles FC, which has been a partner club of FC Bayern since March 2023. Thanks to the FC Bayern World Squad, three talents – Daniel Francis from Nigeria, Colombian José Mulato and Mexican Manuel Aguilar – have already been handed professional contracts. Francis was a Youth Cup participant in 2019 and went on to captain the World Squad in 2021 and 2022. In 2022, the midfielder signed a professional contract with FC Bayern and has spent the last two seasons out on loan at Klagenfurt. In 2021, Mulato received a professional contract with FC Dallas, FC Bayern’s partner club, after being part of the World Squad. Aguilar was part of the 2021 and 2022 World Squads and is now a member of the professional squad at Tigres UANL, with whom he won the Mexican league championship this season.
In this year’s FC Bayern World Squad, Victor Orakpo, David Emmanuel (both Nigeria) and Carlos Colina (Mexico) are three more talents who earned a place via the Youth Cup. Orakpo was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player in 2022 and thus automatically secured his place. Emmanuel and Colina re-applied via the World Squad registration tool after the Youth Cup and fought off their rivals there.
The youth players’ complete journey from training via the selection process to the match against FC Bayern’s youth players will once again be shown afterwards as an exclusive eight-part series. The documentary will be broadcast in autumn on the club’s YouTube channel, the FC Bayern homepage and selected international media.
