AZ youth team made history this week by becoming the first Dutch club to win the UEFA Youth League in an extremely impressive fashion. Where does all of Alkmaar’s talent come from?
from Amsterdam. And from the region to be precise. With Ajax’s youth department under fire after many years, Alkmaarder successfully fishes in the Amsterdam pond.
“Seventy percent of our players come from the Amsterdam region,” said Coach Max Huibert after beating Hajduk Split 5-0 in the Youth League final.
four castles
A look at Europe’s top youth team reveals that four of the mighty defensive champions come from or around Amsterdam.
Captain Wouter Goes was born in the capital, started playing football for ASV Arsenal, played for Ajax as a junior for four years and joined AZ in 2016 at the age of 12.
Ernest Poku, who scored twice in the final in Geneva, was also born in Amsterdam. He played football for SV Robinhood and AFC before joining AZ at the age of fifteen.
Goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, hero of the semi-final penalty shootout, and Jayden Addai, who took the AZ lead in the final, come from Purmerend just under the smoke of Amsterdam. Owusu-Oduro reached the youth academy from A to Z through DVC Buiksloot (today ASC De Volewijckers) and Addai through VPV Purmersteijn.
A large number of players from the neighborhood of Amsterdam are also linked to the club’s move in 2016 to the state-of-the-art sports complex in Wijdewormer, closer to the capital than Alkmaar.
“Previously, players had to sit in a van for half an hour and forty-five minutes,” Huiberts said. “This has happened much less now, the children live near our education complex. This gives you extra time to train more and take care of your players. This is an advantage.”
But the move had another benefit. “In the past, players would sometimes choose another club because AZ was quite far away,” says Paul Brandenburg, youth leader since 2015. “We got closer to our children, and that gave us strength.”
In addition, the people of Alkmaard deliberately conduct expeditions in and around the capital, and talent days are also held here.
Amsterdammer in choice A
Goes and Poku, the four “Amsterdam” Youth League heroes, are already in the first team from A to Z. Alkmaar’s A pick has more players selected from the capital’s front yard at a young age.
Breaking ground this season, Myron van Brederode was born in Hoofddorp but made his A to Z youth team at age 13 through local SV Overbos and Amsterdam AFC.
Van Brederode was with AZ in the Youth League last season with Maxim Dekker, where the adventure ended in the last 16. Hailing from Rijsenhout, 20 kilometers from Amsterdam and 48 kilometers from Alkmaar, Dekker has been playing for the AZ youth team since he was 13 years old.
Goalkeeper Hobie Verhulst is from Amsterdam and at the age of 11 was drawn to Alkmaar via Koog aan de Zaan where he is now on the bench after a series of tours.
50 million triple
But Wijdewormer isn’t the only one from Amsterdam who has aroused a great deal of interest in young football talents. Even before they moved in 2016, they knew how to find their way to Alkmaar. Like big names from A to Z that caused a sensation after decades.
Myron Boadu was born in Amsterdam and started playing football for SC Buitenveldert. There he was discovered by Ajax at the age of eleven, but returned after a practice internship. A year later he got from A to Z where he was in much better shape.
Guus Til was born in Zambia but grew up in Southeast Amsterdam. AZ took it from SV Diemen at age 13. Moroccan-born Adam Maher also learned to play football in Amsterdam before joining Alkmaar’s youth academy at the age of eleven.
Calvin Stengs hails from Nieuw-Vennep and is also a product of the Alkmaar youth academy. The Boadu-Til-Stengs trio eventually brought AZ a total of €50 million with transfers to AS Monaco, OGC Nice and Spartak Moscow.
There were less lucrative signings for Joris van Overeem, Derrick Luckasen and Marko Vejinovic. These are the well-known A to Z names whose cradle is in the Amsterdam area.
What is the secret of the AZ youth academy, where so much was deliberately invested after the bankruptcy of Dirk Scheringa, the former lender of DSB?
“Not really,” coach Huiberts said earlier this week. “Make sure you bring together a lot of talented people with a good program and good facilities. I think we’ve been doing well for years. Stay true to your vision regardless of periods of setback or success.”
envy AZ
The AZ youth academy is thriving like never before with a European Cup to prove it. In addition, the club is the supplier of Orange U17 and Orange U19 teams.
How different is the mood of the competitor in Amsterdam. Only two players from Amsterdam remain in Ajax’s A team: Brian Brobbey and Steven Bergwijn. Young talent Jorrel Hato hails from Rotterdam. Kenneth Taylor of Alkmaar.
Would they be jealous of AZ in Ajax?
“It’s hard for me to say anything about it because I don’t know the program there,” Huiberts says. “I know good actors are playing and good people are walking around.”
Youth performance manager Brandenburg refers to the other counterattack: “You have to ask Amsterdam, then you have to go to Ajax…”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
