Pre-academy and development centres in England: what the rules say

What counts as a development centre

The Premier League’s (opens in a new tab) and the EFL’s (opens in a new tab) rules define a development centre as a centre a club runs to coach children. It is not an academy, but it gives talented young players who might become academy players a chance to develop. The definition covers such a centre “by whatever name or title it is known”, so the rules apply whether the club calls it a pre-academy, a development centre or something else.

The rules name three kinds:

• Pre-Academy Training Centres, to spot children the club may want to register when their Under 9 year starts. Under 9 is the youngest age group an academy can register.
• Junior Training Centres, for children from Under 9 to Under 16 who are not registered with an academy.
• Senior Training Centres, for players from Under 17.

A club needs the league’s consent to run a development centre, and only clubs with a Category One, Two or Three academy can run Pre-Academy or Junior Training Centres. Our guide to how football academies work explains the categories.

Other organisations also use the name “development centre”. If you are not sure who runs a centre, ask the club’s academy whether it is one of the club’s development centres. Our guide to clubs, academies, football schools and development centres explains what else to ask.

Before the first session

Before your child goes for the first time, the rules say the club must give you details of:

• the status and purpose of the centre;
• the fact that going there does not stop your child playing for or training with another development centre, or another club or team;
• confirmation that attending gives the club no rights over your child’s registration.

The club must get you to sign to say you have received and accept these details. It must also give you a copy of any guidance on development centres that the league has produced. If your child is about to start and you have not been given these details, ask the club for them.

Can my child keep playing for their team?

Yes. The rules say a child at a development centre is free to play for other teams. While they go to the centre, they cannot be registered with the club that runs it, and they cannot play in that club’s matches or train with its academy unless the club registers them as a trialist, which the rules allow from Under 9.

This changes if the club registers your child with its academy. Our guide to how football academies work explains when registered players can still play grassroots football.

A child who is registered with another club’s academy, or has a current pre-registration agreement with another club, cannot go to a club’s development centre.

Travel

The rules limit how far from the club a child can live. A child can only go to a club’s development centre if they live within one hour’s travelling time of the club’s main venue for coaching its academy players at Under 11 and below, or one and a half hours from Under 12 to Under 16. There is no limit from Under 17.

If there is a question about whether your child lives close enough, the league decides, considering the time of day and the way your child would travel. Team travel is allowed, but the club must not provide or arrange individual transport for your child to or from home or school.

Sessions and matches

The rules limit how much a Pre-Academy Training Centre can coach a child: no more than two contact sessions a week at Under 7 and below, and three a week at Under 8.

Pre-academy teams can play matches, but not against teams linked to a Premier League or EFL academy, or other pre-academy teams. From 1 January in the Under 8 year, they can play other pre-academy teams if the league approves each match in advance. They cannot go to matches or tours that need an overnight stay, and they cannot wear the club’s first team match kit. Matches follow The FA’s Laws of the Game for small-sided football.

Junior Training Centre teams can play teams that have no link with a Premier League or EFL club or a development centre. Matches against an academy or another Junior Training Centre need the league’s approval in advance. The rules’ guidance says the league will limit those matches so that a “shadow Academy system” does not develop.

Money

The rules say a club must not make any kind of payment to a child at its development centre, or to their parents, directly or indirectly. It must not offer a child, or anyone connected with them, any benefit or payment, in cash or in kind, to persuade them to attend.

Neither league’s development centre rules mention a fee for attending. Ask the club what, if anything, you will pay, and what for, before your child starts.

What happens next

A pre-academy is there to spot children the club may want to register at Under 9, and a Junior Training Centre is for children who might become academy players. Whether a club offers your child a place is its own decision. Our guide to how football academies work explains what registering with an academy means, and our guide to how football scouts find young players covers how clubs find players in other ways.

The PFA Youth Advisory Service (opens in a new tab) can also advise.

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

If you have a concern

The rules say clubs must apply the league’s safeguarding standards to every development centre they run. For a safeguarding concern, tell the club’s safeguarding staff without delay, and ask the club who they are. The Premier League’s rules require each of its clubs to have a Head of Safeguarding, and the EFL’s handbook tells academy parents that their child’s club has a Senior Safeguarding Manager and a Designated Safeguarding Officer.

You do not have to report through the club first. If your concern is about someone at the club, you can go straight to another route. You can go directly to the Premier League’s safeguarding team, or the EFL’s safeguarding team for an EFL club. 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.