Grow your own stars.
Every season your academy produces new prospects aged 15 to 17. Sign the ones you like into your youth squad, let them play youth football, and call them up when they are ready. A player you grow yourself costs no transfer fee.
Youth academy
- A new intake every season
- Youth squad of up to 16
- U18 Youth League for the top four divisions
- The Bendersky Shield youth cup for every club
- Superstar prospects to chase
- Call ups to your senior team
The intake
At the end of each season your academy produces between 2 and 6 prospects, depending on its level. They wait on the Youth screen with their age, position and four skills. Sign one into your youth squad, or pass on him.
- A bigger academy means more prospects and better ones
- Scout Boost makes a superstar more likely in your next intake
- Superstar Search makes the first prospect of your next intake a superstar
Your youth squad
The youth squad holds up to 16 players on a £500 stipend. Pick how they get minutes: your best eleven, rotation, or youngest first. Promote a player to the seniors when he is ready, and send down any senior aged 18 or under who needs games.
- A club short of eleven is topped up with trialists so the youth team still plays
- At 19 a youth player goes up to the seniors or leaves
- Youth players can be called up for senior matches on free gamedays
Development you can see
The Development tab shows the ability points each youth player has banked on every skill. Youth matches earn double the points of a senior match, scaled by the strength of the opposition, so young players can come on fast.
Youth football that counts
Clubs in the top four divisions play the U18 Youth League against their division. Every club with a youth side, in any division, goes into the Bendersky Shield, a youth knockout cup with extra time and penalties. Your academy's run is on its own page.
Questions and answers
- How often do new youth players arrive?
- Once a season. A season takes about 61 hours of real time, so a new intake lands every few days.
- How many prospects do I get?
- Between 2 and 6 a season, set by your academy level. Boosts change their quality and the chance of a superstar, not the number.
- What happens to prospects I do not sign?
- They stay available through the next season and are gone when it ends.
More features
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