There’s something special about the AZ Alkmaar Youth Academy and that’s clear to see when looking at their first team, where most of the players have come through their own footballing school. This allows them to compete with the giants of Dutch football, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord.

So, how do they do it? How do they so consistently produce great players? In this episode of the podcast, we look back at the talk given at WFS19 in September of 2019 by Marijn Beuker, AZ Alkmaar’s Head of Performance & Development. He has a unique role as he oversees the club’s plans for the future and this involves working with data in the youth academy.

Joining host Euan McTear in this podcast to discuss the most important points made by Beuker are football coach Alex Clapham, SoccerLAB CCO Koen Beyen and Michael Statham of the Football Oranje website. They break down what it is that AZ Alkmaar do so well in their unique academy.