The past year for our young hopefuls | OneFootball

Domestic and international success in 2024

The young teams from the Red Bull Football Academy and Rif have gone hunting for trophies over the past 12 months, and their results speak for themselves. Time to look back on a great first full year in women's football, successful international tests and the many honours our youngsters have collected.

ÖFB Youth League

A whopping 12 points ahead of runners-up Rapid Vienna, just five points dropped and the 100 goal-mark smashed – the U18 side of our co-operation partners FC Liefering secured the 2023/24 league title in style. The U16 side also triumphed after an intense title race with Austria Vienna, and our U15 boys also secured the title in a comfortable manner – with the best attack and the most solid defence. An incredible 23 of the last 27 titles at academy level have gone to Salzburg!

Boosted by these successes, the youngsters have made waves on the international stage too. Interim coach Yuki Miyazawa led the U18 team to victory in the prestigious FIFA Youth Cup, while the U15 collected the international Cordial Cup.

We have a chance of landing a sixth hat-trick of ÖFB Youth League titles in the spring - the oldest side have their sights on leaders Admira - who they will be three points behind should they win a game in hand. The youngest two sides are both at the top of the table.

Next Generation Trophy

We also had reason to celebrate in August, when the 15th edition of the well-regarded U16 tournament - Next Generation Trophy - was hosted at our Red Bull Football Academy. Our young Salzburg side fared well in an event featuring the likes of Chelsea and Valencia to win their group - with victories against Brighton & Hove Albion (8-0!) plus Benfica, to reach the semi-finals. Tournament winners - like in 2023 - were Red Bull Bragantino.

U20 and U16 women's trials

We have been involved in women's football since September 2023 - so we are at the end of our first calendar year. There were plenty of highlights - not only did our U16 girls compete admirably against the likes of PSG and others in the Costa Daurada Cup, a few months' later they were able to celebrate winning the Slavia Girls Cup with victory in the final against Bayern Munich! A large part of the U16 side have now moved to the U20 women's side that play in the Austrian Women's Future League, with ten wins from 13 matches in the autumn putting them in second – well done!

UEFA Youth League

Daniel Beichler's boys enjoyed an incredible autumn. An unbeaten campaign so far included fantastic wins over Sparta Prague, Stade Brest, Dinamo Zagreb, Bayer Leverkusen and PSG as our Young Bulls finished the elite U19 competition in third spot. We are to now host Celtic in the last 32 in the middle of February.