August 11, 2023 – The Schwaben AC is thrilled to announce their partnership with Borussia Mönchengladbach. As the only club in Illinois to be selected, BMG is infusing its deep player development experience and knowledge of a professional European football club, helping Schwaben generate high caliber talent, training, coaches, and successful player development on and off the field. The Schwaben AC - BMG partnership programming will include access to the Foals Philosophy, training and player development models as well as overseas German Academy opportunities.
Both clubs share a long and proud soccer history. Borussia Mönchengladbach was founded August 1, 1900 and is 5x German Champion, 3x German Cup Winner, 2xUEFA-Cup Winner. In the 60’s and 70’s, the legendary Foals delighted Germany and Europe with a thrilling attacking game and became known for a team of young and homegrown players. Since then, Borussia is famous for an ability to develop young talents to the highest level of competitive football including Lothar Matthäus, Marc-André ter Stegen, Stefan Effenberg, Günter Netzer, and Marco Reus.
Borussia Academy is certified by the German Football Association at the highest level of Germany’s football youth development institutions.
“For the Schwaben youth program this is a unique opportunity bringing the best soccer knowledge from one of the best youth academies in Europe to the club,” said Thomas Gansauge, Director of Coaching.
Wolfgang Heilmann, Head of International Football School, said, “With over a century of tradition, Borussia Mönchengladbach as one of the most popular clubs in the Bundesliga is particularly known for its ability to find and develop young players. As soccer is for sure on the rise in the US, we would like to use our experience in youth development to support that positive trend and in the process gain popularity for our club overseas. Schwaben has also a great tradition in producing fine youth teams at competitive levels and together with Hansa Soccer Academy, we have organized Soccer Camps on the Schwaben soccer fields in Buffalo Grove annually since 2018 with growing attendance each year. The Academy partnership will bring the successful co-operation to the next level. We aim to provide a year round support for Schwaben, which will not only include the provision of training plans and coaching workshops, but also the opportunity for Schwaben players and coaches to experience training and matches in Germany at Borussia-Park.”
We look forward to this partnership and welcome Borussia Mönchengladbach as Schwaben AC's official partner.