to tournaments and helped youth trainers to be able to obtain their trainer license. The Jugendförderverein relies on donations and voluntary work. Former Club President Mario Weinkauf was one of the seven founding members of the Jugenförderverein and briefly served as chairman of the association before he became club president. Weinkauf had also been a youth trainer in the club for some time. Youth academy during East German era BFC Dynamo had a very successful youth academy during the East German era. The youth department had full-time trainers available for all youth classes and access to the best material conditions in the Sportforum. Youth coaches were highly qualified and training in the Children and Youth Sports School (KJS) was extensive. The youth work at BFC Dynamo during the East German era was described as "absolutely leading" by former coach Jürgen Bogs, who had a background as coach of the junior team. It was also described as "exquisite" by former German sports journalist Horst Friedemann, who worked for Deutsches Sportecho and Kicker. The upper tier of elite clubs in East Germany had privileged access to talents within designated geographical and administrative areas. All designated football clubs were assigned one or two regional districts in East Germany as catchment areas at their founding. BFC Dynamo was initially assigned Bezirk Cottbus and one third of all training centers () (TZ) in East Berlin. The club was then allowed to take over the training centers (TZ) in East Berlin that had previously belonged to the catchment area of FC Vorwärts Berlin, when FC Vorwärts Berlin was relocated to Frankfurt an der Oder before the 1971-72 season. BFC Dynamo would eventually be able recruit talents from the youth departments of all sports communities () (SG) of SV Dynamo in East Germany, except those in Bezirk Dresden and a number sports communities in the southern regional districts that belonged to the catchment area of SG Dynamo Dresden. The club came to benefit from a nationwide scouting network, which included 33 training centers (TZ) of SV Dynamo and the partnership with Bezirk Cottbus. In total, BFC Dynamo had access to 38 training centers (TZ) across East Germany for the recruitment of talents. As a comparison, Union Berlin had only access to six training centers (TZ), all of which were located in the Berlin area. A number of football clubs became specially promoted focus clubs in the 1970