Where are they now? Bayern Munich’s 4 wonderkids from FIFA 15 a decade later
Bayern Munich were under the management of Pep Guardiola when FIFA 15 was released and possessed an immensely talented squad – but what happened to their wonderkids from that year’s game?
The Bundesliga heavyweights would retain their title in 2014-15, but suffered disappointment in the Champions League with a semi-final exit to Barcelona. Perhaps a few of these young guns could have tipped the balance?
Using SoFIFA, we have found Bayern’s four wonderkids from FIFA 15 and have checked out what they are each up to these days.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
“He [Guardiola] is the most demanding person, not only coach, that I have ever met,” Hojbjerg recalled in an interview with The Times.
“He always told me about controlling the game with or without the ball. To make the player you play against react to you, not you to him.
“He used to say to me, ‘Pierre, the most important thing is, if they are close to you, go out and if they are open, you go in, but you need to read it.’ He would say: ‘You need to tell me after one minute, how do they play.’”
The Dane had joined Bayern’s youth set-up in 2012 after leaving boyhood club Brondby as a teenager. But he never quite established a regular spot and actually played more minutes for Erik ten Hag’s B Team than he ever did for Guardiola’s first team.
Both the midfielder and Guardiola left Bayern Munich for the Premier League the same summer, with the former notching up over 100 appearances for both Southampton and Tottenham and is now playing on loan at Marseille.
Gianluca Gaudino
Former Germany youth international Gaudino never quite broke through to the elite level after making a handful of appearances under Pep Guardiola.
The midfielder made his debut for the Bavarian club aged 17 years 09 months 11 days in a 4-1 DFB Pokal victory over lower-league minnows Preussen Munster in August 2014.
Gaudino made eight Bundesliga appearances that season before being loaned out to St. Gallen and eventually sold to Chievo. He now plays in the German third tier with Alemannia Aachen.
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Lucas-Julian Scholl
Probably the least-regarded player on this list, Scholl was named on the bench by Guardiola against Wolfsburg in August 2014 but never made it onto the pitch.
The midfielder never ended up making an appearance for Bayern and was sold to Wacker 90 Nordhausen in 2017.
Still only 28, Scholl has been without a club since leaving SV Horn back in 2021.
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Julian Green
Green was regarded as one of Bayern’s brightest prospects and made his first-team debut against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League in November 2013.
The USA international then went to the 2014 World Cup and became the youngest American to ever score in the competition by finding the back of the net against Belgium.
After a disastrous loan spell at Hamburg, where he barely played, he joined Stuttgart in 2017 and currently plies his trade for Greuther Furth – he helped them win promotion after three years in the Bundesliga II, but couldn’t stop them going back down after finishing bottom last term.
“For a soccer player it’s one of the best feelings to wear your nation’s jersey and it’s a big goal for me to get back there,” Green told ProSoccerTalk in 2019.
“Right now I’m focusing on Furth and I want to make good games here and then we’ll see what will happen in the future.”
He’s still there, now into his eighth season and back playing in the German second tier, but hasn’t received a USMNT cap since 2018.