Newsletters
Fenerbahce President Aziz Yildirim announced on Saturday that Belgian football executive Chris Van Puyvelde will join the club as head of the youth academy in January 2026 to overhaul its talent development system.
Yildirim, who returned as Fenerbahce president in June, described Van Puyvelde as the architect of the golden generations that transformed Belgium and Morocco into two of international football's most competitive national teams, where he held senior technical roles overseeing long-term youth development and talent identification.
Van Puyvelde is expected to lead a long-term overhaul of Fenerbahce's academy, with Yildirim saying the Belgian had committed to building a system capable of producing first-team players within three to five years.
The president said he had first tried to appoint Van Puyvelde before the end of his first spell in charge in 2018.
Yildirim said he later recommended Van Puyvelde to the Turkish Football Federation after leaving office, but the federation did not appoint him, and the Belgian football executive continued his career in China before taking up a senior technical role in Morocco.
He added that Van Puyvelde would not be able to join Fenerbahce before January and that work would begin on improving the academy's training facilities and infrastructure before he takes up the role.
Chris Van Puyvelde, 66, is a Belgian football executive with more than three decades of experience in youth development, coach education and football management.
After beginning his career as a coach, he became technical director of the Royal Belgian Football Association from 2015 to 2018, overseeing the country's football strategy and helping appoint Roberto Martinez as national team coach.
Belgium climbed to No. 1 in the FIFA rankings and finished third at the 2018 World Cup during his tenure, with stars including Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois.
He later held the same role in China before joining the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in 2022, where he oversaw technical development as Morocco built on its historic 2022 World Cup semifinal run by winning the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.
Fenerbahce's academy has long been recognized for developing elite talent, most notably Real Madrid star Arda Guler, although the club has struggled in recent years to consistently promote academy graduates to the first team.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
