Salzburg by far the youngest top team in Europe
Red Bull Salzburg lead the Austrian Bundesliga as usual and cause a stir in a Champions League group with heavyweights Chelsea and Milan in autumn. And with one of the youngest teams in all of Europe.
Two Salzburg youngsters: Nicolas Seiwald (left) and Maurits Kjaergaard.
FC Red Bull Salzburg via Getty Images
Sent on October 16, 2022 Salzburg-Trainer Matthias Jaissle fielded the youngest starting eleven in the history of the Bundesliga in Vienna’s Generali Arena. The Mozartstadt troupe was 21.3 years old on average, Maximilian Wöber was the veteran of the team at 24. Despite their inexperience, the Mozartstadters got the three points that Sunday afternoon, the 21-year-old Junior Adamu shot the “bulls” with a triple pack almost single-handedly to the 3-1 victory over Austria.
Bundesliga – 12th matchday
A comprehensive evaluation by the International Center for Sports Studies in Switzerland has now confirmed that Salzburg’s commitment to youth is not only their trademark on the national stage. This has analyzed the playing staff of clubs from 31 top divisions in Europe. According to this, Red Bull Salzburg had the fourth youngest squad of all evaluated clubs at 23.01 years as of October 2022. Younger are only FC Isloch from Belarus (22.79 years), FC Nordsjaelland from Denmark (21.78 years) and the Kücken squad from MSK Zilina from Slovakia, which is just 21.09 years old on average.
The first representatives from the top divisions to move into the spheres of Salzburg are Stade Reims from France (23.43 years), the employer of ÖFB team goalkeeper Patrick Pentz, and the German Bundesliga stragglers VfB Stuttgart (23.58 years ). It is not for nothing that the Mozart city-dwellers provided the youngest squad of the Champions League season for the second time in a row.
Southeastern Europe relies on routine
Interestingly, the second youngest team from Austria is also currently the second best: SK Sturm Graz with an average age of 24.17 years. Arsenal FC (24.21 years) and Valencia FC (24.23 years) rank directly behind the “Blackies”. At the age of 24.55, Wiener Austria is in third place, red-white-red.
On the other side of the list are the squads of the 31 leagues under scrutiny. The first six places are occupied by clubs from Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. Leader is Anorthosis Famagusta, whose average age in the squad with 30.32 years is the only one over the 30s. The oldest team from a top league is Betis Sevilla at 28.99 years, just ahead of Inter Milan (28.90 years).
