The youth academy of Malmö FF is the highest ranked youth academy in Sweden. The club from the south of Sweden increases their total by almost 1500 points and passes the IF Brommapojkarna as the club with the most points in the Certification.
”For some years, we have had large youth squad where we have priority on development, sometimes at the expense of the results”, says Per Ågren, Youth Sport Manager in Malmö FF.

”If you come here to Malmö FF you get a good environment. We work hard to create winners in the longer term instead of necessarily winning a match for twelve-year-olds on Sunday. We communicate hard with the parents in this”, says Per Ågren.

Every year people from the Swedish Professional Football Leagues network Tipselit visits each and everyone of the 62 member youth academies for a Certification process to evaluate the academy activity. Every club gets a total in points but is also given a certain amount of stars, 1-5, to define their youth academy. After the total result has been calculated, it is clear that Malmö FF’s academy activities top the list with 5321 points, before Brommapojkarna with 4594 points. Third in the list is IF Elfsborg with 3334 points.

”Previously, we had the goal of winning U17 and U19 Allsvenskan, but we no longer have that. We still want to win every match but we think it is better for the player development to do this way. We also have a fantastic coach crew with many well-trained trainers. We put a lot of effort into recruiting good coaches”, says Per Ågren as an explanation for why Malmö FF ends so high in the Certification table.

IF Brommapojkarna och BK Häcken är två av klubbarna i toppen av Certifieringen. Foto: Michael Erichsen / BILDBYRÅN / Cop 89

IF Brommapojkarna och BK Häcken är två av klubbarna i toppen av Certifieringen. Foto: Michael Erichsen / BILDBYRÅN / Cop 89

Malmö FF is also the club that increases their results the most (+ 1357p), followed by AIK (699) and Helsingborgs IF (685). A total of nine clubs have a maximum of five stars in the Certification, a reduction with one club compared to 2017. If you remove the points from the clubs that are given for the player education of still active elite players today Malmö FF still is in the top of the table closely followed by AIK and Djurgården. This could be compared with having the best conditions for create talents today.

”Malmö FF does an impressive job and I really like their goals with their talent education, where maybe winning today is not prio one, but instead creating winners for the future. But I also want to mention all our other clubs and their hard work. Thanks to the fact that we can make these certification visits every year, the club gets a glimpse of its work on educating football players and I would say that all Tipselit clubs take steps forward and develop for each year”, says Thomas Lyth, responsible for the Certification process.

The certification is not primarily used to see who is getting the most points. The participating clubs should be able to compare their own results against themselves from year to year, in order to develop themselves and their academy. This year, the certification has changed somewhat so that, among other things, the clubs’ work on values ​​provides extra points, and that we have added points for specialists in the organization, but it also requires more points than before for each star. Despite higher demands, 59 out of 62 clubs improved their overall performance compared to the 2017 operations. Six clubs, however, loses one star compared to previous year.

”Tipselit is amazing. Thanks to our partner Svenska Spel, we can distribute money to each member club in the Tipselit network. We really see what it does for the clubs and what difference this entails for Swedish talent education as a whole. In 2017, 803 still active Swedish elite football players, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Benjamin Nygren who recently made his debut in IFK Göteborg in Allsvenskan, got their football education in one or ceveral of our Tipselit clubs. It should not be any difference in 2018, says Svante Samuelsson, newly appointed Sports Manager at Swedish Professional Football Leagues.

Read more about all the results in the Certification on the Tipselit website. A 2018 compilation of the total number of currently active elite players who received their education through Tipselit arrives during the spring.

AIK:s målvakt Oscar Linnér är en av drygt 800 aktiva elitspelare som fått sin fotbollsutbildning genom Tipselitnätverket. Foto: JESPER ZERMAN / BILDBYRÅN / Cop 234

AIK:s målvakt Oscar Linnér är en av drygt 800 aktiva elitspelare som fått sin fotbollsutbildning genom Tipselitnätverket.
Foto: JESPER ZERMAN / BILDBYRÅN / Cop 234

Facts Tipselit
Tipselit is a collaborative project between Föreningen Svensk Elitfotboll and Svenska Spel, the main sponsor of Swedish football with the aim of developing Swedish elite football. This is done through purposeful investment in young talent. Every year, Svenska Spel contributes SEK 12 million to Swedish youth football, money that Swedish Professional Football Leagues distributes to the 62 participating clubs according to a certification system.

The clubs are given the opportunity to strengthen their talent development by employing qualified coaches. The idea is that the talented players will receive an elite-oriented football education of primarily full-time coaches. The purpose is to secure the future of Swedish football.

Facts Certification
The certification is carried out in connection with visits to each of the 62 member clubs in the Tipselit network. Each club is judged according to how they work with Values ​​and goals with the academy, Player training, Facilities, Leadership organization, School collaboration, Collaboration with other clubs and Sporting results of the academy.

A maximum score is awarded and the clubs receive different numbers of stars (1-5) depending on their total score.

The purpose of the certification is to:

– quality assure the clubs’ work with player training between the ages of 8 and 19
– identify the clubs’ own development areas
– support and engage in dialogue with the clubs’ own development work
– create a stimulating manual for the participating associations
– create clarity towards the board, sponsors, players, parents, other clubs, municipality etc.
– make it easier for the association to identify its role within the Swedish football
– emphasize player training and leadership training as the most important factors
– Raise the quality of player training in an international perspective

The certification must be a living document and constantly questioning and evaluating. Changes to the certification model must first be analyzed and decided in the academic management group.

Results 2018:
Five stars:
1. Malmö FF, 5321 points (+1 place)
2. IF Brommapojkarna, 4594 (-1)
3. IF Elfsborg, 3334
4. AIK, 3197 (+1)
5. IFK Göteborg, 3152 (-1)
6. Helsingborgs IF, 3099
7. BK Häcken, 2670 (+2)
8. Halmstad BK, 2598 (-1)
9. Djurgårdens IF, 2509 (+1)

Four stars:
10. IFK Norrköping, 2388 (-2)
11. Kalmar FF, 2300
12. Hammarby IF, 2231 (+1)
13. GIF Sundsvall, 1952 (-1)
14. Landskrona BoIS, 1909 (+2)
15. Östers IF, 1892 (+3)
16. Örebro SK, 1856 (+5)
17. IFK Värnamo, 1825 (-3)

Three stars:
18. Vasalunds IF, 1723 (-3)
19. GAIS, 1684 (+5)
20. Falkenbergs FF, 1657 (-1)
21. Trelleborgs FF, 1593 (+2)
22. IK Brage, 1590 (+5)
23. BK Forward, 1552 (+2)
24. Västerås SK, 1541 (+5)
25. Karlslunds IF, 1520 (+14)
26. IK Sirius, 1463 (+5)
27. Degerfors IF, 1451 (-7)
28. Örgryte IS, 1440 (+6)
29. Mjällby AIF, 1393 (+1)
30. Ängelholms FF, 1386 (+5)
31. Jönköpings Södra IF, 1366 (-3)
32. Assyriska FF, 1300 (+5)
32. Syrianska FC, 1300 (+1)
34. Kristianstads FC, 1237 (+20)
35. Östersunds FK, 1228 (+12)
36. Gefle IF, 1213 (-10)

Two stars:
37. Lunds BK, 1182 (-5)
38. AFC Eskilstuna, 1172 (-21)
39. Skövde AIK, 1138 (+9)
40. Husqvarna FF, 1135 (+5)
41. Skellefteå FF, 1132 (+10)
42. Qviding FIF, 1127
43. Varbergs BoIS, 1102 (+3)
44. FK Karlskrona, 1099 (-3)
45. Utsiktens BK, 1075 (-1)
46. Sollentuna FK, 1046 (+10)
47. Norrby IF, 1020 (-4)
48. Nyköpings BIS, 1011 (-12)
49. IK Oddevold, 991 (+6)
50. Eskilsminne  IF, 966 (+10)
51. Åtvidabergs FF, 952 (-17)
52. Huddinge IF, 949 (-2)
53. Dalkurd FF, 943 (-15)
54. Motala AIF, 904 (-1)
55. IK Frej Täby, 900 (-15)

One star:
56. Hudiksvalls FF, 813 (-4)
57. Sandvikens IF, 790 (+5)
58. Oskarshamns AIK, 780
59. Karlstad BK, 728
60. IS Halmia, 722 (-3)
61. IFK Luleå, 717 (-12)
62. Umeå FC, 647 (-1)

Star difference compared to 2017:
+2
Kristianstads FC

+1
Östers IF
Örebro SK
Östersunds FK
Ängelholms FF
Assyriska FF
Karlslunds IF
Eskilsminne IF
Sollentuna FK
IK Oddevold

-1
IFK Norrköping
Vasalunds IF
Lunds BK
IFK Luleå
Hudiksvalls FF

-2
AFC Eskilstuna