Bayern academy starlet named Fritz Walter Medal in Bronze winner

After Captaining Bayern’s U-17 side to a Bundesliga title and helping Germany’s U-17 squad reach the semifinals of this year’s European Championships, defender Lars Lukas Mai has been awarded the U-17 Fritz Walter Medal in Bronze for his outstanding season.

Mai, 17, has made 49 appearances for Bayern’s U-17s in the last two seasons, and a further 14 for Germany’s U-17s, occupying a spot in the center of defense in a large majority of games. This upcoming season he’ll be moving up to join the U-19 side that’ll be looking to build off of their successful second-place finish of last season.

The Fritz Walter medal, given in Gold, Silver, and Bronze, is awarded annually to the top youth player’s in Germany at both the U-17 and U-19 levels (formerly also U-18).

Though only Toni Kroos (U-18, Gold), Emre Can (U-17, Gold), and Niklas Dorsch (U-17, Silver) have been able to capture the award as Bayern players before him, many former winners currently don the kit of the Rekordmeister.

Manuel Neuer (U-19) and Joshua Kimmich (U-18) both won the award in Silver, with Kimmich also receiving the Bronze medal as a U-19 player. Jerome Boateng won the award in Bronze as a U-19 player, and former Bayern player Mario Gotze actually received Gold twice, winning the award as both a U-17 and U-18 player.

Beating out Mai for this year’s Gold and Silver medals are Hamburg striker Jann-Fiete Arp and Werder Bremen midfielder Jean-Manuel Mbom, respectively.