Bundesliga
1860 Munich Academy Dream Team: Where are they now?
Munich may be synonymous the world over as the home of the all-conquering Bayern Munich, but their city rivals TSV 1860 Munich have historically proven tough to beat in terms of producing footballing talent par excellence.
Once coming famously close to snapping up future Bayern and Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer and in fact winning a Bundesliga title before Bayern, 1860 was once the academy of choice in Bavaria. Many well-known names and protagonists in the German top flight past and present have progressed through the Lions’ academy.
bundesliga.com shines a light on 11 of the best to come from Munich’s ‘other team’…
Goalkeeper
Gerhard Tremmel
A Munich native, Tremmel got a taste of all the area’s biggest academies in his youth. As a nine-year-old he settled in at the Bayern academy before switching to 1860 via Olching. A subsequent move to Unterhaching in 1998 would later earn him a Bundesliga debut against, of course, 1860 as a 21-year-old in April 2000. A much-admired and respected journeyman, the 41-year-old hung up his gloves in 2017 following spells at Hannover, Hertha Berlin, Energie Cottbus, RB Salzburg, Swansea City and Werder Bremen. A string of impressive UEFA Champions League performances while in Austria against the likes of Juventus and Manchester City earned the Bavarian a move to the English Premier League with Swansea, where he lifted the League Cup at Wembley in 2013.
Defence
Lars Bender
Bayer Leverkusen captain Lars Bender was once an 1860 fledging just like his twin Sven. Already featuring with the first team as a 17-year-old, Lars would go on to become the Munich side's youngest-ever captain two years later. Shortly before reaching the 2010 FIFA U-20 World Cup final, the defensive all-rounder joined Leverkusen after 64 senior competitive games for the Lions, who were in financial difficulties.
Bender has since gone on to make over 300 appearances for Die Werkself, was a part of Germany's successful squad at the 2008 European U-19 Championship, scoring twice en route to glory. He also featured at UEFA Euro 2012 but suffered an injury that prevented him from travelling to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
A native of Bavaria, Weigl's rapid progress at 1860 led to him captaining the U19 side while still only 17. A senior debut in Bundesliga 2 soon followed and it was unsurprising that a team of Borussia Dortmund's standing moved for a player of such immense promise in 2015.
In fact, such was Weigl's immediate impact with the Black-and-Yellows that he made over 50 appearances in his first season, reaching the DFB Cup final just days before making his senior debut with Germany in 2016. Dortmund's midfield metronome, who is equally adept as a ball-playing centre-back, holds the Bundesliga record for most touches of the ball in a single game (214).
Bender was an U19 European champion with Germany while on the books at 1860, a tribute to his development at the Munich club from a young age. The twin brother of Lars, Sven went on to feature prominently under Jürgen Klopp in Dortmund's back-to-back Bundesliga title-winning years of 2011 and 2012, the latter forming part of a league and DFB Cup double.
A losing finalist in the 2013 UEFA Champions League, Bender also claimed silver for Germany - for whom he won seven senior caps - at the 2016 Olympics before re-joining his brother in Leverkusen the following year.
Midfield
Now in his sixth season at Borussia Mönchengladbach, wide man Johnson has enjoyed a varied career on the domestic and international fronts since taking his formative steps at 1860, passing through every youth category at the club.
Remaining at the Bavarian side until 2009, the Munich-born Johnson opted for Wolfsburg but it was at subsequent club Hoffenheim that the USMNT star flourished, scoring five times in 87 Bundesliga appearances. A European U21 champion with Germany, Johnson switched allegiances following a call from former USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann and later played at the 2014 FIFA World Cup for the Stars and Stripes.
Born in Landsberg, situated between Munich and Augsburg, Neuhaus spent almost his entire youth in the academy of 1860. Joining as a 10-year-old, one of Germany’s most promising central midfielders would come through every level at the club, playing 15 times for the first team in just a single season of senior football before Gladbach swooped for the 20-year-old’s signature.
A year on loan at Fortuna Düsseldorf in Bundesliga 2 produced six goals and three assists in 27 games. It was clearly enough to convince the Foals that the Germany U21 international was ready for the Bundesliga and he played all but one game in his maiden campaign with the club, registering a club-high 11 assists in 35 competitive appearances.
Marcel Schäfer
The current Wolfsburg sporting director was drawn to Munich from his hometown of Aschaffenburg as a 15-year-old before making his senior debut as a substitute in the club’s 3-1 win over Bochum in the Bundesliga shortly after his 19th birthday. He would make a name for himself in the second tier before a move to Wolfsburg, where he would make over 300 appearances, including all 34 in their sensational title win of 2008/09.
Predominantly a left-back, Schäfer would also feature in a defensive midfield role before heading to the USA for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Rowdies before retiring and taking up his role behind the scenes at the Volkswagen Arena.
Watch: All of Philipp Max's assists in 2017/18!
The son of two-time Bundesliga top scorer Martin Max, current Augsburg left-back/winger Philipp Max spent four years in the 1860 academy before making the city switch to Bayern setup. He would then move to Schalke’s Knappenschmiede – another of his father’s former sides – before a breakthrough season in Bundesliga 2 with Karlsruhe, only missing out on Bundesliga promotion in extra-time of the play-off against Hamburg. A move to Augsburg followed in 2015, where he has since developed into one of the league’s top left-sided players with 135 appearances to his name.
Forwards
Bobby Wood
USMNT international forward Wood had Kevin Volland ahead of him in the junior pecking order at 1860 for a time but the Hawaii native – who arrived in Germany via California – eventually emerged from the shadows to make his own mark on the team he debuted for at senior level in 2011.
Wood has battled through various injuries over the years, yet a shining season at second-tier Union Berlin – where he scored 17 goals in 31 league games, the division's third-highest tally in 2015/16 – thrust him into the limelight. He subsequently made the move to current club Hamburg where he scored on his Bundesliga debut in a 1-1 draw against Ingolstadt in 2016 and has 12 goals in 61 games, including three in 22 on loan at Hannover.
Watch: Bobby Wood's top 5 goals!
Born in the Bavarian town of Ebersberg, located just to the east of Munich, Niederlechner's route to the top of the game was via the road less travelled, having made it despite not graduating from a professional club's academy. He spent a year on 1860's books as a 12-year-old, but was deemed to small to continue there and subsequently played for a number of lower-league clubs into his early 20s.
His big break came in 2014 with Bundesliga 2 side Heidenheim, where the forward scored 27 goals in 79 outings. That earned him a move to the Bundesliga with Mainz, and while he failed to find the net for the Carneval club, his displays impressed Freiburg boss Christian Streich, who signed him in 2016. Seventeen goals and three assists for the Black Forest club persuaded Augsburg to sign him in summer 2019. He hit the ground running back in his native Bavaria, registering four goals and two assists in his first 11 games for the club.
Leverkusen owe plenty of thanks to 1860 for the array of current stars on display at the BayArena that started out in the ranks of the Munich team. Volland was a resident of 1860's youth-team boarding school from 2007. A year later he was picked to play for Germany's U-17s, a feat he was honoured to repeat with the same age group at the 2009 World Cup in Nigeria.
Then came a senior debut for 1860 against Augsburg in Bundesliga 2, and Volland's star has been rising ever since. At Hoffenheim - the club where he netted 33 times in 132 Bundesliga matches - Volland scored the Bundesliga's joint-quickest ever goal against Bayern Munich after just nine seconds in 2015. A provider of assists as well as a goalscorer, Volland has earned ten senior caps with Germany to date.
Watch: Volland and the fastest-ever Bundesliga goal!