Bayern’s youth teams have made a poor start to 2025.
After a long, long break, we’re back. Now that the U-17 Bundesliga and the Regionalliga are back, recaps will continue every weekend. So welcome to the FC Bayern Campus Round Up, where the matches of Bayern Munich’s U-17, U-19 and U-23 squads are recapped, line ups are provided and the highlights to each match are hyperlinked on top of their respective score lines. Information on the matches is provided by the official FCBayern website here and here. Additionally, none of these matches can be viewed in full length without an FCBayernTV subscription. Without further ado, here is the round up:
DJK Vilzing 3-0 Bayern U-23s
Bayern lineup: Schmitt – Brückner, Denk, Marušić, Yanda – Rüger, Dell’Erba, Della Rovere (62. Wagner) – Binder (62. Unsöld), Kusi-Asare, Jensen (62. Scott).
Goals: 1:0 Haas (10), 2:0 Sedlaczek (26), 3:0 Weber (50, penalty)
Unavailable: Vincent Manuba, Javier Fernandez, Steve Breitkreuz, Younes Aitamer, max Scholze, Tarek Buchmann, Paul Scholl, Moritz Mosandl, Adin Ličina
In the three matches played in 2025, Bayern II have lost them all. Those losses were more understandable when they were against table toppers 1. FC Schweinfurt and 5th placed Würzburger Kickers, but less so against relegation fighting DJK Vilzing. Having lost all three center backs, Bayern II lined up with a defensive midfielder in Luca Denk and long-time injured Gabriel Marušić at center back. Meanwhile, there were full debuts for Tim Binder and January signing Julien Yanda.
Then again, the problem was not really the defense. Vilzing used their chances really well, but Bayern certainly did not. Could not even fashion many. It was another disconnected, sloppy display amid a series of sloppy, disconnected displays. What is the problem? Could it be the January departure of Adam Aznou, Nestory Irankunda and Noël Aseko Nkili? Given that they were in and out of the team in the first half of the season, that seems unlikely.
Regardless of the cause, the table is what it is. Bayern II remain in third place but are now 8 points adrift of league leaders Schweinfurt. That is not an impossible gap to bridge with 14 games to go, especially considering Bayern more or less achieved this in the Hinrunde, but it will require a significant turn around in form.
Bayern U-19 0-2 FC Köln U-19
Bayern lineup: Pavlešić – Dalpiaz, Puljič (32. Mijatovič), Schäfer, Ofli – Nasrawe, Richter (79. Schuhbauer), Sadat (46. Yildiz) – Karl (70. Santos), Zöls (70. Codjo-Evora), Scott (46. Durakov).
Goals: 0:1 von der Hitz (24.), 0:2 Irmiev (45.)
Given that Bayern are currently contesting 10 matches amongst a group of 6 teams, the fact that this is match day 6 means that the Rückrunde of this little league has already started. Bayern won the first game against Köln in January with a 4-1 end result, but had to settle for a 0-2 loss today. After the heartbreaking and dramatic midweek loss to Inter Milan that saw them knocked out of the UEFA Youth League, this was a second defeat for the youngsters.
Though the first encounter ended with a comfortable victory, Bayern were lucky a few times that Der Effzeh left multiple presentable counter attacking opportunities on the table back in January. Not this time. A fast break allowed them to gain the lead and they doubled it with another. In the middle of the two goals was a red card for Köln, which saw Puljič subbed off hurt, but it did not matter. Just like with Bayern II, a sloppy offensive performance cost the U-19s and they got nothing out of the match as a result.
In better news, however, long term absentees David Santos and Noah Codjo-Evora made their comebacks today. Welcome back, you two!
This result sees Bayern drop down to third in the table. Remember, Bayern needs to end up in the top 4 to qualify for the next round of fixtures. The perfect chance to make the Bavarians’ qualification sure comes next week, as Bayern faces 5th place Werder Bremen. A win would give Bayern a 6 point cushion over Bremen with 3 games to go, but a loss would put them on level terms heading into the final matches of the season. This will be a must win match.
Nürnberg U-17s 2-4 Bayern U-17s
Kösters – Moumouni, Kiala, Pavlić, El-Chaar – Göttlicher, Matosević (66. Hentcho Nseke), Cardozo (7. Egwuatu) – Chemwor (58. Afanou, 66. Danioko), Gashi, Snip (58. Lambe).
Goals: 1:0 Kusanovic (12.), 2:0 Kusanovic (19.), 2:1 Snip (42.), 2:2 Gashi (70.), 2:3 Egwuatu (86.), 2:4 Hentcho Nseke (89.)
This derby was the last match of a brutal run of 3 away games in 7 days, which might explain why Nürnberg took a 2-0 lead within 19 minutes. In such difficult circumstances, playing against a rival away from home could have proven and being 2-0 down in less than 20 minutes could have been an obstacle too tough to overcome. However, Bayern’s young guns fought back brilliantly to win the game 4-2 in the end.
Also notable was the substitution of new signing Cardozo after 7 minutes. Why did U-17 coach Patrick Kaniuth sub the Brazilian out? As of now, there has been no update in that regard.
