The 2025 Wings Cup is a pioneering youth football event, aligned with the ECA Youth Football Strategy, providing a unique platform for competitions and the exchange of expertise. Discussions on innovative player development strategies, innovation in training methods and data integration took place at the Red Bull Arena. Tomaz Morais (Sporting Lisbon), Andjelko Aivanjko (Dinamo Zagreb), Joris van den Besselaar and Jese Dercksen (PSV Eindhoven) shared their knowledge with the participants.

The dominant figure at the meeting was undoubtedly Jürgen Klopp. The head of football at the Red Bull Group stressed, among other things, that the problem with the development of young players is not a lack of talent, but a lack of real opportunities. “Everyone wants to find talent and then forget that they have to help them to the next step. It’s a topic that doesn’t get much attention because we like to see the final product. We like to see the best player in the world. How he got there, that’s not our concern at the beginning. It’s also the job of the coaches to find space, to create opportunities,” Klopp stressed, and went on to give the following advice to young footballers: “You have to learn to defend throughout your career. That’s the foundation of every career. There’s only one player on the planet who doesn’t have to defend, Lionel Messi.”

* The Wings Cup involves footballing talents born in 2007-2008 from various international clubs and is held in a very original format. Teammates and opponents change after each match, while in addition to wins and draws, points are also awarded for individual performances. With the help of live data recording, players can view their match statistics as well as performance data on large screens next to the pitch.