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The project drawn up by Chairman Bernard Serin aims to establish training at Metz as an essential and founding principle of the club's sporting objectives. The guiding principle of this sporting project is to provide FC Metz with a very high-level training and post-training policy, which will enable the best young players trained in-house to contribute to the sporting success of the first team.
THE TRAINING CENTRE, FC METZ'S TRAINING FLAGSHIP
At the heart of this project is the FC Metz training centre. It is a category 1A training centre according to national standards, and regularly ranked among the best in France in the rankings approved each season by the French Football Federation's National Technical Directorate:
3rd best French centre in 2007 and 2008,
4th best French centre in 2014,
6th best French centre in 2013 and 2011,
10th best French centre in 2012 and 2009.
The quality of the FC Metz training centre is also recognised at international level, having been named 8th best European training centre by UEFA in 2007. Metz's expertise is recognised beyond France's borders, as demonstrated by its partnerships with several foreign federations (Chin, Quebec, Singapore and the Edukick institution in India). With its roots firmly planted in Lorraine, and with a view to giving priority to players from the region, the Training Centre favours a largely regional recruitment policy: more than two-thirds of the major champions in the training phase come from the region and the wider region (including Luxembourg).
This deeply regional policy enables us to maintain excellent partnership relations with the surrounding clubs. Our recruitment method favours quality over quantity, and only the very best players from each club join FC Metz after having spent as many years as possible with their club of origin.
This collaboration with local amateur clubs is also reflected in the ‘Club FC Metz-Moselle’, which brings together, alongside FC Metz, eight other Moselle clubs renowned for the quality of their training policy.
Find out more about training at FC Metz
NEW LEVELS OF PROGRESSION THROUGH A RETHOUGHT POST-TRAINING PROGRAMME
In 2013, Chairman Bernard Serin wanted to consolidate the foundations of the club's project by increasing the number of progression levels offered to young players at the end of their training at FC Metz. With an average of 2 to 3 young players joining the professional squad each year, the club with the Cross of Lorraine was sometimes forced to let some talented young players leave too early, due to a lack of certainty and available places in the professional squad, without being able to offer them a first professional contract.
In addition, some young players who were promoted to the professional ranks were forced to move directly and without transition from a CFA or CFA2 level to a Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 championship, which was not ideal for finalising and perfecting their training, and thus succeeding in what is commonly referred to as ‘post-training’.
THE GÉNÉRATION FOOT ACADEMY, AN EXTENSION OF THE ‘FLAGSHIP
The aim of this partnership with Génération Foot is to transpose to Africa the values, philosophy and operation of the Metz training model delivered at the FC Metz Training Centre. The Génération Foot academy has a dual purpose:
The aim of this partnership with Génération Foot is to transpose the values, philosophy and operation of the Metz training model provided by the FC Metz Training Centre to Africa. The Génération Foot academy has a dual purpose:
research and training in high-level football for talented young African players ;
the social and educational reintegration of the academy's young boarders.
The best young players trained at the Génération Foot Academy join FC Metz as soon as they reach the age of 18, in accordance with FIFA regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. They are then welcomed as boarders at the Metz Training Centre, where they undergo training for a few sports seasons before gaining their independence and autonomy. The most talented and promising of them are then called upon to fill the ranks of the club's professional team, like so many others before them (Diafra Sakho, Sadio Mané, Mayoro N'Doye, Cheikh Gueye, Fallou Diagne, Oumar Pouye, Habib Diallo, etc.).
Find out more about the Génération Foot Academy
THE PURCHASE OF RFC SERAING
To remedy these shortcomings, FC Metz decided in 2013 to buy Belgian club RFC Seraing, one of the oldest clubs affiliated to the Belgian Football Federation, which has been playing in the second division of the Belgian championship since 2014. RFC Seraing regularly takes on young players trained at FC Metz on loan, with the aim of giving them playing time and an opportunity to make significant progress.
Find out more about RFC Seraing
GENERATION FOOTBALL'S SIGHTS SET ON D1 PROMOTION
To enable the best young players from the Génération Foot Academy to make the most of their careers in their home country, the Génération Foot first team, originally a member of the Nationale 1 (Senegal's third division), has set itself the goal of advancing as quickly as possible to the Senegalese Division 1. In July 2015, the ‘Académiciens’ took the first step towards this goal by validating their promotion to Division 2, and they even achieved the feat of winning the Senegalese Cup on 08 August 2015, thereby qualifying for the African Confederation Cup.
THE CREATION OF THE MIFA
Finally, in March 2013, the FC Metz International Football Academy (MIFA) was set up to promote the economic value of training in Metz. The purpose of this structure is to market top-level football training courses, lasting from a few days to a season, to foreign clubs, federations and institutions wishing to gain access to top-level football (China, India, etc.) and benefit from the expertise of the FC Metz Training Centre.
The MIFA will also be used as a secondary means of identifying the best players to emerge from these courses and persuading them to join FC Metz.
Find out more about the MIFA