Former European glamour club, Crvena Zvezda has long had a connection to Australian football.
From Milan Ivanovic’s time at Belgrade in the ’80s, to Michael Curcija in the early 2000s, Eli Babalj in the mid noughties and most recently current Socceroo Milos Degenek, who is back training with the club, in the American football off-season.
Crvena Zvezda also have an academy in New Zealand, as well as scouting connections in Australia, which keep a close watch on talent. In recent years players from VIC NPL side Altona Magic have gone to Belgrade for trials.
There is already, however, an Australian teenager making steady progress in the club’s famous academy.
Locally known as ‘Vilijam Milvud’, aka William Millwood, is a former prodigious Australian child who rose to fame thanks to his wizardry with the ball and the help of the internet.
The former APIA Leichhardt junior’s skills were honed at the New Era Academy, which has a connection to English Premier League giants Chelsea.
NEAT academy delivers a tailored individual program that is based on five key principles of football – physical, psychological, social, tactical and technical skills of the game.
Milwood’s raw ability had a slew of Europe’s best clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, interested in his prized signature – only to see Crvena Zvezda win the race.
As they’re known in English, Red Star Belgrade are incredibly underrated in Europe when it comes to its academy. The in-depth development program makes up for the club’s lack of finances.
The curriculum is based on a child’s ability rather than their age, with the club also tailoring it to the physical and mental growth spurts of boys – normally at ages five, 13 and 18.
Players are also trained on their position, which means if you are a box to box midfielder you will learn the art of defending, attacking and making specific late runs.
As the taught curriculum is position-specific, it allows the coaching staff to identify potential positional weakness and implement a plan to correct this.
The academy collates detailed information on a player’s physical, psychological and technical skills, which are constantly changing.
A player’s mental health is also monitored closely, as this can alter from missing a simple pass to not coping well on a heavy rain-soaked pitch.
The boys at Crvena Zvezda’s academy are also exposed to the classroom, where they undertake theoretical lessons in nutrition, recovery, injury prevention and mental wellbeing.
(Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Although Crvena Zvezda are the biggest club in the Balkans, financially they cannot compete with Europe’s elite, relying heavily on the moneyball recruitment strategy of unknown African players, as well as academy sales.
Names like Luka Jovic, Ivan Ilic, Marko Grujic and Uros Racic have netted Red Star millions in the past several years from the academy.
In 2022, promising 18-year-old striker Marko Lazetic signed with AC Milan for $4 million, talented goakeeper Ognjen Lukic moved to Stade Reims, and several more academy starlets joined other clubs.
William Milwood is now with Crvena Zvezda’s under 14 side and is being exposed to much more technical and tactical situations, in an effort to simulate as close to possible senior football in a few years’ time.
He is extremely comfortable in possession, with the ability to dictate play and equally adapt on both left and right sides.
Australia has not shown any interest in capping Millwood at underage level, regardless of how prestigious the academy of his club side is.
He is just one of a number of eligible and talented player who the green and gold are overlooking. Serbia, on the other hand, have acted swiftly, selecting ‘Vilijam Milvud’ in an upcoming squad for an under 14 international match.
Millwood is a star on the rise, much like the one on Crvena Zvezda’s badge.
The Australian-born teenager’s international allegiance may now lie with Serbia, rather than the country of his birth – who have once again, been slow to identify potential players in problematic positions for its international teams.
NickA
Roar Rookie
Have just read this on Millwood SS, given your recent comment. Looks interesting - let's hope he's now at least on the radar
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Hardly any kids in Sydney are playing rugby union, rugby league, and AFL. Its cheaper or free to play those sports at grassroots and they dont have any of this thousands to pay at the elite level or pay even more to be in academies. If parents in Australia are paying thousands and thousands and moving to Serbia because its cheap and more effective what does that say about the system here.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i can't guarantee any australian teenagers success Freddy, there are a number of factors that will determine that - including something that is out of everyones control, luck. but you hit the nail on the head in terms of wanting to know about how different countries develope players with different training programs - something that i specifically tried to highlight here :)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
that may be true in the last half decade, they have been a far more consistent team than zvezda but im talking overall success, they are a champions league winner after all
Freddy Jones
Guest
To be honest, I get very bored now with these promoted stories of individual young players at a young age who are predicted to become superstars potentially for Australia. But I am interested in the background information that gives us some insight into how their youth development systems work better and differently to Australia. This information is the true value and treasure in theses stories.
Cpaaa
Guest
"Crvena Zvezda are the biggest club in the Balkans" I would argue that Dinamo Zagreb are the biggest amongst the Slavs. Recently having Spanish International Dani Olmo on the books, Croatian Internationals, Champions League participants and taking 3 points of Chelsea FC in the first round suggests otherwise. Out of curiosity SS, Your recent articles and travels related to Club Zvezda suggests you may be of Slav origin. True or Not?
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
the developement paths between both countries are very different. i specifically wanted to highlight the contrasting training with boys at various ages when it comes to physical and mental developement (inparticular mental developement) in serbia - something that i feel as a footballing nation australia has ever got a handle of. far too many players are released due to things out of there control EG. genetics and attitude (which correlated to the mental capacity of boy still developing into a man) in australia, regardless of there technical abillity. you also need to factor that in serbia, like most balkan countries - football is the top sport yes basketball, tennis, volleyball, water polo and handball are very popular - but football will always be king. its very different in australia, especially with the absurd fees at NPL and academy level - couple this with children of the 'tik tok generations' lack of attention span and its obvious why australia is failing in development. nothing that i've seen at academies on this trip to serbia, romania and russia has shocked me - its absolutely as i expected it to be
AGO74
Guest
The Balkans has delivered some incredible footballers. They are clearly doing something right. Australia has benefitted too from this Balkan experience with many players of Balkan heritage or trained in the Balkan system at a local level - though not as much in recent years. I could speculate as to reasons why TSS, but you'd know more than anyone but why aren't those clubs producing the players they once did? Is it simply that the original Balkan generation has retired and/or passed on and that the 2nd generation (first and second generation Australian born) doesn't have the nous (or interest) to develop what their fathers did? Probably a very complex answer and not as simplistic as I'm speculating!
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
'capping' is a word that has snuck into my language from living in australia lol i should've clarified this a bit better Millwood has been identified as one of the best talents in the country in his specific age group and has been called up to an international training camp ran by serbias football federation in preparation for an under 14's tournament. its very common to play international matches at this age group in europe especially against surrounding countries like romania, montenegro and slovenia etc. if he keeps up his progress he could have as much hype as Jovan Mijatovic, who just turned 17 and made his senior debut for red star belgrade. Mijatovic could well be the best player to come out of the academy in over a generation, he ticks every box for his position. millwood should be in the group after him, long way to go yet - but he is developing nicely
AGO74
Guest
Interesting read TSS - curious though on your capping comment. Call me naive but I wasn't even aware that internationals were played at such a young level? I didn't think it began until 16's and 17's. That he's choosing to play for Serbia isn't that surprising given where he is currently based. Long way to go though for the kid. Hope his development continues.
Grem
Roar Rookie
A great read, but it’s so sad to see us possibly missing out on more talent. If he’s good enough for Serbia, I’d imagine he’s good enough for us! I realise Australia has a lot of players scattered throughout clubs in our own country as well as overseas. How do we ensure we don’t lose any potential gems?