Brentford Under-18s continue their pre-season work as they travel to Germany to face Heidenheim U17s on Wednesday and Bayern Munich U17s on Saturday.

Both matches will be open to public as the young Bees take on Heidenheim at the Sportanlagen DFB Stutzpunkt in an 11.30am kick-off on Wednesday morning. The side will then travel to the FC Bayern Campus to face the German side’s U17s in a 2pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon.

Match coverage from both games will be available on our academy social media channels and website.

Getting back to it

Lydia Bedford welcomed 12 new scholars through the Robert Rowan Performance Centre doors ahead of the 2024/25 season.

The U18s head coach will again aim to bring a new group of players together ahead of the start of the season.

After recently being awarded Category Two academy status the U18s will now compete in the Professional Development League.

Bedford labelled the last campaign a "rollercoaster", with the side competing in the South East Youth Alliance League, the Youth Alliance Cup and the FA Youth Cup.

Despite some tough results throughout the season, the young Bees ended the campaign on a high, winning the Merit League 2 on the final day.

Bedford now prepares for her second season in charge with Jon-Paul Pittman remaining as her assistant.

About Heidenheim U17s

Heidenheim are coming off the back of a disappointing season after finishing bottom of their league last season only winning one game out of 26 matches.

The young German side will begin their new campaign on Saturday 10 August against Augsburg U17s with the team playing their league football in the U17 Bundesliga Group F.

About Bayern Munich’s U17s

Bayern’s youngsters had a good season in the previous campaign with the side also playing in the U17 Bundesliga Group F, a league which contains many youth sides of German top division clubs.

The side finished third out of 14 teams last season and begin their league campaign on Sunday 11 August against Unterhaching U17s.

The German giants have produced some of the best players in Europe in recent history including names such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller and Philipp Lahm.