Premier League
London, UK
English professional football has over recent years made considerable investment into elite talent pathways. Clubs and other entities running elite talent programmes for young players must comply with advanced and evolving regulatory frameworks. These frameworks have been developed to deliver on English football’s shared mission of developing more and better homegrown players, and compliance with them is a condition of receiving central funding to support elite youth development.
On the boys’ side and as part of the Elite Player Performance Plan — the Professional Game’s national strategy for developing male youth footballers in England — professional club Academies are licensed and placed into one of four categories (Category 1 to 4). These categories are based on a combination of factors, including investment levels, facilities, staffing, and the quality of provision across key multidisciplinary areas. We are currently reviewing...