Schalke 04 U19

Two goals in the 2015 final against Hoffenheim, and a third to settle it, gave the Schalke 04 under-19s their fourth German youth title. The two before it had come the same way — through Bayern Munich, beaten 2-1 in 2006 and again 2-1 in 2012. The first, in 1976, was the least even of them: Rot-Weiss Essen were taken apart 5-1.

Between the 2002 and 2005 cup wins the side changed shape entirely. The earlier one went to penalties after a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart; three years later Tennis Borussia Berlin were beaten 3-1 inside ninety minutes.

The academy carries a name from the coalfield the city grew on — the Knappenschmiede, the miners' forge. It has sent Manuel Neuer, Mesut Özil, Leroy Sané, İlkay Gündoğan and Julian Draxler into senior football, and the senior club's own nickname, Die Knappen, comes from the same pits.

The under-19s moved into the rebuilt Neues Parkstadion in 2020, when the ground was passed for youth fixtures. It holds 2,999 — a figure that puts the young players in front of a crowd small enough to hear individually and large enough to matter.

Gelsenkirchen sits close to Dortmund, and the fixture between the two clubs is the Revierderby. It is played at every level the two sides field, a derby with no love lost, and the youth teams inherit it before they inherit anything else.