York City Football Club are proud to announce our intention to transition our current academy model into a Category 4 English Football League (EFL) Academy for the start of the 2026/27 season.
Category 4 Academy status will move our U18 programme forward, significantly increasing the levels of staffing and support our U18 players will receive. We will now also have access to the EFL Youth Alliance league where the U18’s will play against other EFL clubs further stretching the experiences of our young players. The move to an EFL programme at U18’s will also mean that our 1st year players will be apprentices at the club and therefore protected from being taken by other clubs without the appropriate level of compensation.
As part of our commitment to the development of the entire academy, with the support of the EFL, League Football Education (LFE) and Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) we will be making improvements to the 9’s – 16’s programme throughout the coming season. Progression will be seen across staffing, facilities and games programme, with the intention of moving to a Category 3 Academy for the start of the 2027/28 season. Setting up as a Category 3 Academy over the course of a few weeks and doing so to a high standard without rushing key aspects such as staff recruitment is impossible and is a step we want to make sure we get right at the first time of asking.
When we do move to a Category 3 Academy, we want to do so from a position of strength with the ability to run an outstanding programme from the very start, whilst mitigating the impact on the partner programmes we run at both York College and Thirsk School & Sixth Form College so that they can also continue to thrive as part of the clubs commitment to youth football and education in the region.
A quote from Julie-Anne and Matt Uggla;
“Being able to create and develop talent for the longevity of our club is vital, by ensuring we cement ourselves as a strong Category 4 Academy before transitioning into Category 3 ensures we will be ready. Ready with facilities, staffing and all other aspects that are required for our youngsters to thrive. Amongst all of this we can’t forget we’ve come a long way in the past few seasons and making sure we set the club up to compete in the EFL from next season and beyond. As always we will work extremely hard to develop the club in all areas and this is just one example of where we are making sure everything is done so with the right people and at the right time to allow us to maximise the outputs”
