KRC Genk's youth academy is known far beyond Flanders as a true factory of talent. Big names such as Courtois, De Bruyne, Trossard and current captain of the first team Bryan Heynen have all been moulded by the Genk academy. The success of the Genk youth academy has not gone unnoticed in Turkey either. After visiting Ajax's youth academy yesterday, a delegation from the Turkish Football Association, including Hamit Altintop (Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Galatasaray) and current president of the Turkish Football Association Nihat Özdemir, visited Genk's youth academy today.
Technical Coordinator Sem Franssen showed the delegation around and explained the functions of Genk’s work with their youngsters: “We can rightly be proud of what we are achieving here with our Talent Academy. The fact that the Turkish Football Association has chosen our operation to visit for inspiration proves that our work has not gone unnoticed internationally and that we can compete with the European top tier in our talent scouting and development.”