Performance Centre

Leadership

Sebastian Kegel
Head of academy football

Date of birth: 
4th December 1982 

At the club since: 
July 2010

Born in Borna, Sebastian Kegel has been coaching in the RBL academy since 2010. Kegel won the regional cup with the RBL U15s, as well as the 2014/15 Nike Premier Cup in Berlin (the most prestigious U17 tournament in Germany), qualifying for the world final in the process.

In December 2017, Kegel took on a position as head of the academy, as well as sporting director for the U8s-U15s. He became head of academy football on 30th June 2019. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Personnel planning, responsible for the management of all academy personnel
• Steering and ensuring the continued development of RBL’s playing and development philosophy throughout all academy sides (core responsibility: U15s to U19s)
• Ensuring individual talent promotion and development
• Squad planning, squad composition, recruitment and final scouting of young talents
• Advising top talents and ensuring ongoing communication with first-team management
• Ensuring cooperation with sporting associations
• Communicating with corporate departments (especially Legal, Human Resources and Finance) and ensuring compliance with all corporate processes
• Ensuring cooperation between associations at the administrative level
   

Christian Streit
Head of academy logistics

Date of birth: 
30th June 1984 

At the club since: 
July 2009

Christian Streit played for RB Leipzig in the club’s debut season, making 18 appearances in the sixth division, as well as three in the Saxony Cup. He made history after scoring RB Leipzig’s first-ever competitive goal in a 1-0 win over Blau-Weiß Leipzig in the Saxony Cup.

Following his playing career, he took a job with the club’s academy as the coordinator of the youth teams and the academy. Since July 2019, Streit has been employed as RBL’s head of academy logistics. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Personnel planning, responsible for managing all logistical personnel (incl. partial management of the sporting department)
• Responsible for planning and overseeing all budgets for the entire academy (sporting/academy)
• Responsible for contracts, licensing, boarding school and academy, training and matchday operations

Other Academy Roles

Jan Schäfer - Sporting director for the U8s-U14s

Marcus Darmochwal - Head of matchday operations and contracts

Sabine Schiefer - Director of education
 

Academy administration

Silvio Arendt - Administration & Organisation

Marcel Wilke - Assistant to the academy heads

Academy coaches

Robin Peter
U19 head coach

Date of birth: 
31st July 1987 

At the club since: 
July 2010 

Coaching license: 
UEFA A license

Philipp Seidler
U17 head coach  

Date of birth: 
10th April 1991 

At the club since: 
2013 

Coaching license: 
UEFA A license

Tim Krömer
U16 head coach

Date of birth: 
12th September 1991 

At the club since: 
July 2015 

Coaching license: 
UEFA A license

Dennis Bockelmann
U15 head coach

Date of birth: 
25th December 1995 

At the club since: 
2017 

Coaching license: 
UEFA B license

Florian Schröder
U14 head coach

Date of birth: 
12th January 1996 

At the club since: 
July 2021 

Coaching license: 
DFB Elite Youth license

Tom Stuckey
U13 head coach

Date of birth: 
23rd November 1982 

At the club since: 
July 2010 

Coaching license: 
UEFA A license

Assistant coaches

U19: Sebastian Heidinger, Alexander Portleroy, Konstantin Ziegler

U17: Robin Schrader, Tim Sebastian (ab 01.01.2023)

U16: Thomas Risch, Tom Graunitz

U15: Jan Effner, Ole Bernhard

U14: Fabian Förster, Mika Moritz

U13: Niklas Merk, Conrad Bremme

Team managers

U19: Uwe Mielatz

U17: Uwe Metzdorff

U16: Mike Möritz

U15: Thomas Penndorf

U14: Lars Krüger

U13: Maik Drese

U12: Marie-Christin Ziemer

Goalkeeping coaches

U19: Nico Hildebrandt

U17:  Arne Kampe

U15/16: Jan Zimmler

U12-U14: Philipp Tschauner

U8-U11: Marc Hübner

Fitness coaches

Head of physical development: Robert Friedrich

U19: Benedikt Hänneschen

U17: Johannes Rösch

U16: Rico Hartwig

U15: Shuho Araoka

U14: Leon Nieß

U13: Lukas Heinrich

U12: Daniel Wasmus

Head coaches U8 - U12

U12: René Hönisch

U11: Paul Klein

U10: Kai Vogel

U9: Max Ruhner

U8: Yannic Drechsler

Education

Sabine Schiefer - Director of education/Boarding school

Christoph Schiefer - Boarding school management

Beatrix Garbe - Educational assistant

Tobias Grune - Educational assistant  

Jasmin Goldack - Educational assistant  

Boarding school

Life at the RB Leipzig boarding school is both a special challenge and an enriching experience. In comparison to everyday family life at home, living with a large number of young people is a completely different life experience, which requires consideration and is characterised by diversity. Everyday life at boarding school is varied and brings with it an enormous wealth of experience which can greatly benefit young players in their future career.

School

Football’s elite schools 

In November 2014, RB Leipzig’s youth academy and its partner schools were recognised by the German Football Association (DFB) as part of a network of elite football schools. As such, they fulfil all the requirements for providing young players with optimal support to pursue their sporting and academic commitments. This includes additional training sessions in the morning, as well as support in the case of absences due to taking part in sessions with the DFB or other national teams.

Graduation

RB Leipzig’s philosophy is based on the principle that sports and academics are equally important. Based on a comprehensive overview of all educational requirements, the aim is to help support every young player to achieve the highest possible individual qualification upon leaving school. Most common are a secondary school diploma after year 10, as well as A-levels or a vocational diploma after finishing year 12. 

Studies

Vocational training 

All players receive support in finding a suitable vocational training program based on the results of a comprehensive profile. Our partners strive to accommodate all sporting commitments while meeting the educational requirements. 

Higher education

Players who have already completed their A-levels or a vocational diploma have the opportunity to continue their studies at one of our partner universities and can choose to pursue either long-distance or in-person courses. In each case, the study program will accommodate any sporting commitments. 

RB Leipzig’s education and vocational training partners:

Sportgymnasium und Sportmittelschule Leipzig, Rahn-Schulen Leipzig

Sports Psychology

Dr. Nils Gatzmaga - Sports Psychologist

Andy Borchert - Sports Psychologist

Personality development

The overriding goal of our sports psychology work is the comprehensive and sustainable development of our youth players to allow them to be able to deal with the demands of both sports and everyday life in the best possible way. 

Training of psychological skills

In training and in school, our youth players have to constantly take on new learning challenges. In competitive situations, they are regularly faced with the challenges of regulating their emotions and managing both successes and failures. In order to be best prepared for this, specific skills are taught and strengthened - both individually and as a team.

Individual and team support

The main focus of our work is the psychological accompaniment and support of our youth players and coaches both on and off the field.

Medical/Physiotherapy

Christopher Simon - Head physiotherapist

Doctors & Therapists

Academy doctors: Dr. Marcus Hübner, Dr. Jan Gehmlich, Dr. Karsten Reichmann

Rehabilitation coaches: Anja Strobel & Robert Friederich

U19 physiotherapist: Christopher Simon

U17 physiotherapist: Henning Jonack

U15/U14 physiotherapist: René Wesel

Additional physiotherapists: Laura Künstling & Eric Klein

A constant improvement in the quality of our care

RB Leipzig offers its academy players care and treatment of the highest quality. Our physiotherapists take part in a wide range of training and expertise courses in order to meet the highest standards of physiotherapeutic care in competitive sports. 

Quick & sensible integration into team training

Despite our commitment to performance, we offer our youth players comprehensive care. The health of our players is of the highest priority for us. In the event of difficult or ambiguous treatment situations, we will always make a decision that is in the best interests of the player.

Extensive communication with coaches and parents

We try to provide support for our players, by involving them in the discussion of sensitive topics and helping them to find the right approach to integrate into training. There is also a clear dialogue between the players, coaches and the physiotherapists. As some of our players’ parents live far away, we notify their guardians immediately in the event of any injuries as well as providing comprehensive updates.

Innovative therapeutic treatment

We are in constant exchange with experts from all areas of sports medicine, in order to offer the latest and most innovative treatment options.

Prevention

A large part of our department is focussed on injury prevention. Players are treated on a weekly basis in order to prevent any injuries as early as possible.

A comprehensive network of medical facilities

We are characterised by our comprehensive network of the best medical facilities. Our network includes specialists in all areas, which, for example, allows us to make MRI or CT scan appointments within the shortest possible time.

Mission & Vision Statement 

Performance Centre Mission Statement 

Mission
The promotion of young talent forms an important basis for the model of our club and is intended to essentially ensure long-term success.  
  
For a young player, this means following an individual path with us based on our standards and values, and being part of our holistic, innovative and specific promotion of young talent.  
  
In order to be able to follow this path successfully, we assume responsibility for the holistic development of our players and are aware of our position as role models.  In doing so, we set our focus on our sporting, social and educational core competencies.  
  
Our goal at RB Leipzig is to introduce our young players to professional football and to develop their conscientious and independent personalities.  

Vision
Due to our state-of-the-art infrastructure and our comprehensive training and playing philosophy, we are convinced that we will become a performance centre that meets the highest standards and draws top regional, national and international talents.

We strive to develop personalities who will be leaders and role models, who constantly strive for further development in training, in competition and in school and who also give their best outside of the sport to fulfil their dream of playing professional football.

Holistic training approach 
The training of our young players is geared towards supporting and challenging particularly talented players in a manner of holistic development. This is based on the following three fundamental pillars:  

• Football
• Education (school and work)  
• Personality  
   

In addition to optimal footballing support, our young talents should also receive the best possible school education in order to create a secure and stable starting situation which they can use to shape and be in control of their own future. In this regard, we strive to help each individual achieve the highest possible qualifications upon leaving school.  
  
The teaching of values is hugely important in the development and education of our players. In particular, mentality, discipline, will, honesty and team spirit are fundamental to us and are already taken into account in our selection process, alongside athletic and academic aptitude.  
  
Within the professional framework of our performance centre, we support every talent in their growth into an independent, driven and strong-willed personality, who can make the transition to professional football providing optimal training. 

In everything we do, we hold the responsibility of providing our players with skills and competencies that will benefit them as young people throughout their lives in all areas. 

Driving force behind our youth development  

We strive for continuous further development and optimisation of our youth development. High-quality training, demanding competitions, a professional environment and the individual support of our players are the key driving forces behind this.

The most important basis is our consistent training and playing philosophy. From the lowest level of youth football through to our professional team, we train and teach using innovative methods and highly qualified personnel in an age-appropriate manner. The latest sports science findings and developments in the sport are always taken into account and considered. Both our internal specialists and external experts serve as instructors and contact persons to our coaches. 

The further development of football-specific skills and abilities as well as personality-enhancing elements is the focus of our daily work.

Our talents should be characterised by passion, hunger for success, respect, fairness and self-assurance in order to be successful individually and as a team.