How football academies work in England

Who runs the academy system

Academies belong to professional clubs. They work under the Elite Player Performance Plan, which began in 2012. The Premier League runs the academy system on behalf of its clubs and the EFL runs it on behalf of EFL clubs, working with The FA and the PFA, the players’ union. Each academy is audited every year and given a category. The Premier League’s parent hub (opens in a new tab) has more on how the system works.

The two leagues use the same three phases, four academy categories and the same core travel limits. Some exceptions and procedures differ, and this page points them out. Where this page says to contact the Premier League, a family at an EFL academy contacts the EFL instead, unless the page says otherwise. If your child’s academy belongs to an EFL club, ask the club for the EFL’s handbook for parents (opens in a new tab).

Academy categories

The category sets what an academy must and may offer. It does not tell you how well a particular academy will suit your child. The 2026/27 handbooks describe the four categories like this:

If you want to know which category an academy holds, ask the club.

The three phases

• Foundation Phase: Under 9 to Under 11.
• Youth Development Phase: Under 12 to Under 16.
• Professional Development Phase: Under 17 to Under 21.

A child’s age group is set by their age on 31 August, as it is in grassroots football in England. Our age group checker shows which age group your child is in this season.

From what age

Under the 2026/27 Youth Development Rules, the youngest age group an academy can register is Under 9. Before that, a club with a Category One, Two or Three academy can run what the rules call a Pre-Academy Training Centre: a development centre for spotting children who might be registered when their Under 9 year starts. Those clubs can also run development centres for children from Under 9 to Under 16 who are not registered with the academy. Going to one of these is not the same as being registered. Our guide to clubs, academies, football schools and development centres explains the difference.

How a child gets invited

Each academy decides how it recruits. Our guide to how football scouts find young players covers where scouts watch and what a genuine approach looks like, and our football trials guide covers the warning signs of one that is not. Lincoln City and Chelsea, whose published practice that guide quotes, say they never ask for money for a trial.

Whatever happens with academies, you can search for grassroots clubs near you by age group and match day.

Signing: what registration means

When your child signs, they are registered with that club’s academy for a set period. The length depends on their age and the time of year they sign, and the club will tell you.

You have seven days to change your mind. At a Premier League academy, the 2026/27 handbooks say you must contact the Premier League within seven days of signing, and your child can train and play for the club during that period. At an EFL academy, the EFL’s 2026/27 handbook gives the same seven-day period and says to contact the EFL. After that, ending a registration early needs the club, your child and you to agree. If a Premier League registration cannot be ended by agreement, any of you can ask the Premier League to decide. At an EFL club, any party can ask for a binding decision, which an independent commission makes.

While your child is registered, the handbooks say other Premier League and EFL clubs, including through their staff, scouts or agents, must not contact your child or your family, and that you must not contact other Premier League or EFL clubs, except as the rules allow. A trial match for another club needs the prior written permission of the club that holds the registration.

Clubs must not offer cash or other benefits to persuade a child to sign, and that includes offers to family members. You and your child must not accept anything offered, and the handbooks say accepting can lead to the registration being ended or refused. Some expenses are genuine. If you are not sure whether something is allowed, ask the Premier League before you accept it.

Travel time

The rules limit how far from the academy a registered player can live. The 2026/27 handbooks say:

• Foundation Phase: within 60 minutes of the academy.
• Youth Development Phase: within 90 minutes of the academy. The YDP handbook gives two exceptions: full-time places at Category One academies from Under 14, and players it calls geographically disadvantaged, who may register with their nearest club.

The Premier League’s Foundation Phase handbook gives the same geographically disadvantaged exception. The EFL’s 2026/27 rules give it from Under 12 only, for a player who lives more than one and a half hours from the nearest academy.

Training, school and education

In the Foundation Phase, academy players train part-time, in the evenings, at weekends and in the school holidays. The Premier League’s Foundation Phase handbook also says each player should take part in at least half of the match playing time across the season, subject to fitness.

From Under 12, the handbook describes three ways of training:

• Part-time: evenings, weekends and holidays, with the academy keeping your child’s school informed.
• Hybrid: Category One and Two academies only, where the club offers it. Your child is released from school for up to two days a week, with your consent, the school’s agreement and the league’s approval, and has some education at the club.
• Full-time: Category One academies only, in the Youth Development Phase. Education is delivered through a local school working with the club, and a child may live away from home in accommodation the club arranges.

The handbook says the academy’s Head of Education works with your child’s school and can advise on their education.

Can my child still play for their grassroots club?

In the Foundation Phase, possibly. Under the 2026/27 Youth Development Rules, a registered player from Under 9 to Under 11 can play grassroots matches if the academy approves it. Premier League guidance says the decision is considered each year in the player’s best interests; the EFL handbook describes it as being at the club’s discretion. Those matches do not count towards academy game time.

From Under 12, registered academy players are not allowed to play grassroots football. School matches organised by the English Schools’ FA, the Independent Schools Football Association or their affiliates are allowed, with your agreement and once the club has been told.

What it costs

The Premier League’s handbooks do not list a fee that families pay to be part of an academy. If a player turns down a new registration and joins another academy, the new club may have to pay the old one compensation for the player’s training. Families do not pay it, do not receive any of it and take no part in those discussions, and the EFL’s handbook says the same. No compensation is due if the club released the player. The handbooks do not say who pays for travel to training, so ask the club.

Each year: kept on or released

Before each registration period ends, the club tells you in writing whether it wants to keep your child. If it does, you do not need to do anything for your child to stay. If your child does not want to stay, you must tell the club and the Premier League in writing by the first Saturday in June. Scholarship offers can be made from 1 July between the Under 13 and Under 14 years until 31 December in the Under 16 year, and a player has 28 days to reply. If they do not reply in time, the offer counts as declined. Our guide to being released from an academy covers what happens if the club does not keep your child.

Concerns and complaints

For a safeguarding concern, tell the academy’s safeguarding staff without delay. The Premier League’s handbooks name them as the Head of Safeguarding and the Academy Safeguarding Officer, and the EFL’s handbook names the Senior Safeguarding Manager and the Designated Safeguarding Officer. Ask the club who they are.

You can also go directly to the Premier League’s safeguarding team, or the EFL’s safeguarding team for an EFL academy. The FA’s reporting page (opens in a new tab) also lists County FA Designated Safeguarding Officers and The FA’s own safeguarding team as routes. Adults can contact the NSPCC helpline, and Childline is there for children and young people up to their 19th birthday. The Premier League’s handbooks for the Foundation Phase (opens in a new tab) and the Youth Development Phase (opens in a new tab), and the EFL’s handbook (opens in a new tab), give contact details.

If you think a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, contact your local authority’s children’s social care. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

For a complaint that is not about safeguarding, the handbooks say to raise it informally with the academy first, then use the academy’s formal complaints process and its appeal. At a Premier League club, you can then take it to the Premier League, which says it will respond within seven days and aim to reach an outcome within 28 days. The EFL’s handbook says the EFL cannot itself resolve complaints about the conduct of a club or its staff, though you can copy a complaint to the EFL and it may try to help. If, at the end of the club’s process, you think there are grounds to end your child’s registration, the EFL’s handbook says you can apply to the EFL Board to cancel it. The application goes to an independent commission, and the handbook calls this a last resort because it can involve significant costs.