PREMIER LEAGUE

TALENT IDENTIFICATION AND RECRUITMENT
260.2 the Club has made an application to the Board to this end, having offered to engage
the Academy player on the Full Time Training Model and the Academy Player having
rejected this offer for sound educational reasons. In such a case the Board shall
enquire into the circumstances and satisfy itself as to the bona fides of the
application, and if so satisfied shall have the power to determine that the Academy
Player’s registration should so endure.
261. The registration of Academy Players will be undertaken by the League.
262. Registrations of Academy Players undertaken by the Football League which are held by
Clubs promoted to the League shall be treated as having been undertaken by the League
provided all circumstances surrounding that registration comply with these Rules, failing
which the League shall be at liberty to reject that registration unless otherwise determined
by the Board.
263. An application for the registration of an Academy Player at an Academy shall be made by
completing and submitting to the Secretary PLYD Form 5 signed on behalf of the Club by an
Authorised Signatory together with a copy of the Code of Conduct referred to in Rule 189.
264. A Club shall request each Academy Player (or if he is a minor his Parent) to complete PLYD
Form 6 at the same time that he completes PLYD Form 5. If he does so the Club shall submit
the completed PLYD Form 6 to the Secretary at the same time that it submits PLYD Form 5.
265. An application in PLYD Form 5 shall be refused if it is made in respect of a player with whom
a Club (or club), other than the applicant Club, has entered into a pre-registration agreement
which remains current.
266. Except in the case of a Scholar, a player shall not be registered as an Academy Player unless
he is in Full Time Education.
267. The Board may from time to time direct the minimum number of Academy Players to be
registered by each Club in each age group, and each Club shall comply with any such direction.
268. The maximum numbers of Academy Players registrable by a Club at any one time are as
follows:
Age groups Under 9 to Under 14 inclusive:
30 in each age group
Age groups Under 15 and Under 16 inclusive:
20 in each age group
Age groups Under 17 to Under 21 inclusive:
15 in each age group
269. No Club shall be permitted to register any Academy Player in the Under 9 age group before
the third Saturday in May immediately preceding his Under 9 year.
270. A player in age groups Under 14 to Under 16 inclusive who resides more than one and a half
hours’ travelling time from the nearest Academy may be registered as an Academy Player at
the nearest Club which operates an Academy of the appropriate Category subject to the
following conditions:
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT RULES
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