Ulm U19

Loris Karius spent four years in the Ulm academy before Stuttgart and then Manchester City took him on. That pipeline only became official in the eyes of the German Football Association on 1 January 2022, when the Nachwuchsleistungszentrum earned its recognition, three years after a new functional building went up to support it.

The senior side these young players are meant to feed carries its own weight: promoted to the Bundesliga in 1999 for a single season, then back down through the divisions before climbing again, winning the Regionalliga Südwest in 2022–23 and the 3. Liga the year after. The U19s play their own football in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga South/Southwest and the DFB Nachwuchsliga, several tiers below that senior stage but pointed at it all the same.

Wear black and white and the sparrow follows — Die Spatzen, a nickname tied to the bird's statue in the city, and it applies to every age group that comes through the club rather than just the first team. Derby weeks against SSG Ulm carry the sharpest edge locally, while matches with VfB Stuttgart's youth sides bring a different kind of needle, the bigger regional name across the youth leagues and cup rounds.

For a group this young, the measure is less about titles than about who gets handed a debut and who eventually leaves for a bigger badge. That is still the job in Ulm.