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Insporting terminology, ayouth system (oryouth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team orleague, which develops and nurtures young talent infarm teams, with the vision of using them in thefirst team if they show enough potential.[1][2] In contrast to most professional sports in the United States where the high school and collegiate system is responsible for developing young sports people, mostfootball andbasketball clubs, especially in Europe and Latin America, take responsibility for developing their own players of the future.[3]
A subset of youth academies are referred to as elite academies, designated for teenagers and young adults. These academies typically have a higher cost of capital incurred for maintaining an optimal environment for practice as well as cups and other competitions that may be partaken.
Elite academies often have full time staff including but not limited to coaches, physiotherapists, office staff and other roles that assist in the operations of the academy. Rules of top academies are strict and unlike other association football clubs, most clubs will have strict travel rules and will not allow players to drive to and from matches on the same day if under the age of 21 due to fatigue levels and stress.
Underage players may sign youth contracts with the club or association that owns the elite academy. It is also common for elite academies to offer the ability to study in parallel with the academy training, such as is the case in for example the system of college sports in the United States. Schools may offer sports focused programmes in order to integrate their student experiences with the academies of affiliation.[4]
Youth systems attached exclusively to one club are often called youth academies. In a youth academy, a club will sign multiple players at a very young age and teach them football skills required to play at that club's level and style of football.[5] Clubs are often restricted to recruiting locally based youngsters, but some larger clubs such asArsenal,Real Madrid,Manchester United, andChelsea have recruited foreign talent, leading to the formation of specialist recruiters such as theLa Liga Youth Brokerage, which started in 2016.[6]
Many of the largerfootball clubs inEurope such asAjax andFeyenoord in theNetherlands,FC Barcelona,Atlético Madrid, andReal Madrid inSpain,Benfica,Sporting CP, andPorto inPortugal,Olympique Lyonnais andParis Saint-Germain inFrance,Manchester United,Liverpool,Arsenal, andChelsea inEngland,FC Bayern Munich,Borussia Dortmund, andSchalke 04 inGermany, among many others, are regarded as having some of the finest youth academies and have produced many players regarded as some of the best in world football. Other clubs, such as theBrazilian teamsGrêmio andSão Paulo,Espanyol in Spain,Atalanta,Inter Milan, andAC Milan ofItaly, and English clubsLeeds United,Middlesbrough,Watford,Aston Villa, andWest Ham United, while not as financially successful as others, have a world class academy. West Ham's youth academy is known asThe Academy of Football, and has producedmany English talents that have gone on to play with larger clubs in thePremier League.[7]
Another example is lower league clubs who have produced high quality players through the academy and sold them to keep the club running. A prime example of this isCrewe Alexandra who have, underDario Gradi and his staff, nurtured players into high quality players such asDanny Murphy andDean Ashton and sold them.
An alternative name for a youth academy is "Centre of Excellence". In English football, these terms have distinct meanings and are licensed and regulated byThe Football Association andThe Football League.[8]
In 2020,Major League Rugby teams started forming youth academies.[9][10][11]
In theSoviet Union, children-youthsports schools were used as youth systems. Financing of the Soviet youth system was conducted by clubs such asDynamo Kyiv,Spartak Moscow,CSKA Moscow, and other clubs, and also through major industrial Soviet state enterprises such asPA Yuzhmash,Black Sea Shipping Company,Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, and other enterprises.
While similar to youth academies,youth leagues are built into a club competition rather than an individual club. However, the teams that play in these youth leagues (calledfarm teams) are generally attached to a larger senior club. The purpose of these leagues is to give young players experience in proper competition against other players that they will most likely end up playing with or against. ThePremier League in England is known for having a largeyouth league attached to its senior clubs. In the forthcoming season theA-League in Australia will begin its own youth league.[12]
Youth leagues are not just exclusive to football (soccer). TheAustralian Football League (AFL) has a youth league established underneath its senior league with no attachment to any senior club. The players that play in this competition are then chosen to play for senior clubs through theAFL draft.Basketball clubs in Europe follow the same format as their respective football (soccer) clubs, with youth tournaments in each country, as well as theEuroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament, where the top 32under-18 sides compete for the championship.Minor ice hockey andjunior ice hockey serve an identical purpose for ice hockey and theNational Hockey League (NHL). Historically, hockey followed a similar model to association football in that professional teams owned junior teams to develop youth talent (examples including theMontreal Junior Canadiens andToronto Marlboros) to which they would retain territorial rights; this system was phased out in 1967 in favor of adraft system.[13] To a certain extent,Little League Baseball serves a similar purpose for professional baseball, although the vast majority of development and recruitment comes at the high school level.
TheNational Football League operates two youth academies, one atLoughborough University in England and the other atA. B. Paterson College in Australia, with those academies designed mainly for international talent.[14] The majority of the NFL's players, along with those of the neighboringCanadian Football League, are developed predominantly through the educational system, first withhigh school football and thencollege football (university football in Canada). Canada also hasits own junior football system similar to hockey's. NeitherMajor League Baseball nor theNational Basketball Association have a youth system. Basketball players are typically developed and recruited straight out of high school, although theNational Basketball Association requires at least one year out of high school to be eligible to play.College basketball is also a source of players for the NBA and other professional leagues.[15]
MLS Next (stylized in all caps) is a system of youthsoccer leagues that are managed, organized and controlled by Major League Soccer. It was introduced by the league in 2020. The system was introduced in mid 2020 and will be active[needs update] for the first time during the 2020–21 season. It is a successor to theU.S. Soccer Development Academy. The system covers the under-13, under-14, under-15, under-16, under-17, and under-19 age groups.
Many competitions are arranged according to maximum age
