Jungen Wilden: VfB Stuttgart’s Glorious Wild Youth
European football has a rich history of teams being successful thanks to their academy and homegrown talent – Celtic’s Lisbon Lions of the late 1960s under Jock Stein where every player was born within 30 miles of Glasgow, Manchester…
European football has a rich history of teams being successful thanks to their academy and homegrown talent – Celtic’s Lisbon Lions of the late 1960s under Jock Stein where every player was born within 30 miles of Glasgow, Manchester United with the fabled Class Of ’92, and Pep Guardiola's Barcelona which saw the likes of Xavi, Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué play key roles in their dominance between 2008 and 2012.
In Germany, it is VFB Stuttgart’s “Jungen Wilden” (Wild Youth) that charmed the Bundesliga 13 years ago. Yet prior to the 2006-07 season, things had not been smooth sailing for the Swabians. Giovanni Trapattoni had been sacked as head coach in February 2006 after just seven months in charge.
In his place was Armin Veh - originally seen as a stop gap - yet under the stewardship and support of sporting director Horst Heldt, Veh was given the job on a permanent basis. Despite only winning three of his first ten games and going on to lead them to a ninth placed finish in the league at the end of the 2005-06 season, Heldt entrusted him to lead Stuttgart back to the European places.
Credits
Words
Yousef Teclab
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