NK Maribor Youth Academy
Mladinska ulica 29
2000 Maribor
Chairman: Sebastijan Harc

Information on enrolment of new players:
Tel: 00 386 2 620 97 04
E-mail: nogometna.sola@nkmaribor.com

Our vision and goals

We are a club with a rich history and a successful present, but we certainly did not forget about the future. Everyone at NK Maribor agrees that children are our greatest assets. The youth academy is a very important piece of the puzzle. We are aware that only through professional work and good organization can we incite interest in football in children. Our aim is to make them fall in love with the beautiful game and to lead an active and healthy lifestyle. To ensure the best possibilities for their development, we are advancing with big strides and aim to employ an all-professional staff.
Through the years, NK Maribor's Youth Academy has raised young boys who proudly represent our city and football all over Slovenia and abroad. The success of our younger selections - and as a consequence of the first team - and the individual players who started their careers in our academy, provide a never-ending inspiration to try to improve and work even harder. But through all this we always keep in mind the social aspect and the broader impact of our academy: the children acquire more than just football skills - our staff is preparing them for their future. They learn the meaning of discipline, teamwork, subordination, leadership, they make new friends, they get to travel Slovenia and Europe...

In recent years, NK Maribor's academy is the most successful academy in Slovenia. More than 220 young players are divided into ten categories, according to their age. Since the foundation of the academy in its current form (in 1990), we have won numerous league and cup trophies. We are the only club that has managed to win the titles in the U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18 categories in a single season. Through success in international tournaments, the name of NK Maribor has also gained a lot of recognition abroad. Although we are focused on achieving sporting excellence, everyone in the academy is aware that education always comes first. Because of this, only children who do not neglect their schoolwork and continue to succeed in school can be members of our academy. They can look for role models in our first team where some of the players, besides being professional football players, successfully continue with their studies as well.

The success rate of our academy can also be measured by the number of young players who have been invited to play for their national teams and in big European clubs. Each season, we have at least 15 members of the national team and it gives us great pleasure and motivation to see that the products of our academy attract considerable interest from the biggest clubs of European football. The proof of this is the fact that in Ljudski vrt, the representatives of such big clubs as AC Milan, Inter and Chelsea have been able to find players to meet their criteria.