29 May 2024, Bavaria, Munich: The FC Bayern Munich logo can be seen at the Sbener Strae office. FC Bayern is reportedly close to signing coach Vincent Kompany. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa (Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)Last seasons Bayern Munich U-17s head coach Leonard Haas has moved up to the U-19s and brings most of the U-17s with him. This group of players will look to improve not only on their finish in the 2025/26 season, disappointingly ending the U-17 season in the Round of 16, but also hoping to improve on what the U-19s did in the 2025/26 season. The U-19s also got knocked out in the Round of 16, but furthermore were knocked out in the group stages of the UEFA Youth League (essentially, the youth Champions League) and the first round of the Youth Cup. When it comes to results, the season could not have gone much worse. Dante will lead the team into the Youth League, but Haas will be in charge to make sure the team does better in the other two competitions Bayerns official website provides a good look at what lies ahead, before the season even truly begin, starting with a review of the coaching staff:The new season brings somechanges to the coaching staff: The previous U17 coaching trio of head coach Leonhard Haas and assistants Stefan Meiner and Florian Mayer have moved up to the U19 team. The lads were really keen to get going again, Haas explained after the first two training sessions at the campus. The break had done the players good, allowing them to mentally unwind and gain some perspective. The past few weeks were also valuable for the coaching staff: After the season, its not just a chance to catch our breath, but also to reflect on the past months and identify what we need to work on. This sport is always about change.Preseason scheduleNaturally, preseason is filled with a lot of intensive training and multiple friendlies. The Bavarians have schedule 4 friendlies thus far, as well as two tournaments in the Bundesliga Cup and the Red&Gold Global Trophy tournament. They will, too, go through an intensive preseason before the season official begins on August 9th:July 4 : vs FC Augsburg U-19s (6-1 win)July 8: vs Bayern World Squad (2-1 win)July 11-12.: Bundesliga CupJuly 18: vs SpVgg Unterhaching U-19s July 25.: vs Slavia Prague U-19s (3-3 draw)August 2: Youth Cup Round 1 vs RSV Eintracht 1949 StahnsdorfAugust 4-6: Red&Gold Global Trophy tournamentAugust 9: Season startFirst phase group opponentsIf one is not familiar with the format of Germanys U-17 and U-19 leagues, one can read about it here. In short, though, there are three phases to each season. The first phase consists of 12 league matches in groups of 7, with Bayern set to play against 6 opponents twice. This season, the first phase starts on August 9 and ends on the weekend around December 6th.Bayern have been drawn into Group D with these other teams:FC Ingolstadt 04SGV Freiberg FuballSpVgg UnterhachingSSV Jahn RegensburgTSV 1859+1 MunichVfB StuttgartHaas has this to say about the opponents, via Bayerns website: With Stuttgart, we have an absolutely top team in the group, whom we already know from last season as German U17 champions weve also already played against Unterhaching. Overall, its a good group with many Bavarian opponents were especially looking forward to the city derby against 1860 Munich.Full squad list, promoted playersThe transfer window is now open and one external transfer has been made in Austrian phenom Matteo Maric. This is a list of all the players currently registered for the U-19s. Of course, there is every chance new players/returning loanees will arrive over the course of preseason or even after the season has already started. Or a few of these players could be let go, loaned out or promoted to the U-23s over the course of the window. Furthermore, there are multiple players out injured that are listed as part of the squad yet cannot participate in any of the training sessions or games.Still, at the time of writing, here is the full squad list:GoalkeepersMatthias Ksters, Daniel Podar-Stiube, Luis Nadler, Jae-Won HeoDefendersRyan Moumouni, Richard Ajayi, Valentin Beckert, Jonas El Allali, Xaver Pucci, Jakob Horvath, Afrim Gashi, Adam El-Chaar, Konstantinos KarandrikasMidfielders:Erblin Osmani, Simon Schaff, Kuba Horozsczak, Matteo Maric, Leopold Schmid, Michael Matosevic, Paul Kerschberger, Roy Snip, Luca Babl, Aviel Hentcho-NsekeForwards:Chris Aaron Afanou, Philipp von Taube, Wisdom Imade, Aristide Hentcho Nseke, Frank EgwuatuAnalysisImmediately, the squad seems very balanced. There could be a need to add one more forward and move on one or two midfielders, but otherwise the squad looks strong heading into the season.FriendliesAt the time of writing, Haas men have played four friendlies.6-1 vs Augsburg2-1 vs Bayern World Squad6th place at Bundesliga Cup(I dunno what happened to the game against Unterhaching, it was not mentioned on the website).3-3 vs Sparta Prague Season goalsOf course, the main priority remains-as always-player development.But, if we look at the sporting goals for the seasonThe U-19s have lost in the first round of the Youth Cup in the last two seasons, an embarrassment for the club. Their goal is to go far and challenge for the trophy. Furthermore, the Bavarians will wish to compete for the U-19 Bundesliga title. The minimum goal is likely to reach the quarterfinals of the competition. Finally, the U-19s will lookmto qualify from the group stages of the Youth League and hopefully at least equal their best ever finish in the competition (quarterfinal exit in 2025).Join the conversation!Sign up for a user accountand get:New, improved notifications system!Fewer adsCreatecommunity postsComment on articles, community postsRec comments, community posts