Chelsea F.C. Development Squad and Academy
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Full name | Chelsea Football Club Under-21s and Academy | |||
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Nickname(s) | The Blues The Young Blues | |||
Ground | Kingsmeadow Cobham Training Centre Stamford Bridge | |||
Capacity | 4,850 (Kingsmeadow) 40,173 (Stamford Bridge) | |||
Owner | BlueCo[1] | |||
Chairman | Todd Boehly | |||
Manager | Filipe Coelho (U21) Hassan Sulaiman (U18) | |||
League | Premier League 2 (under-21s) U18 Premier League (academy) | |||
Website | www | |||
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Departments of Chelsea | ||||
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Chelsea F.C. Under-21s, previously referred to as the Development Squad, are the development team of Chelsea Football Club. They play in the Premier League 2, which is the top level of reserve football in England. They were the champions in the 2013–14 and 2019–20 seasons. The team mainly consists of under-21 players at the club, although senior players occasionally feature, when recovering from injuries or otherwise not in the first team. The under-21 team is managed by Filipe Coelho and the under-18 team is managed by Hassan Sulaiman.
Chelsea F.C. Academy is the under-18 team of Chelsea Football Club. It is a member of the Professional U18 Development League. They have won the FA Youth Cup nine times, including five consecutive titles between 2014 and 2018. The academy has produced many successful players such as the brothers Ron and Allan Harris, Peter Bonetti, Bobby Tambling, Barry Bridges, Bert Murray, John Hollins, Peter Osgood, Ray Wilkins, Graeme Le Saux, Bobby Smith, Terry Venables, Jimmy Greaves, John Terry, Mason Mount, Reece James and Conor Gallagher. Chelsea are the only English club to reach the final of the UEFA Youth League, winning it twice in four final appearances.
The under-21 team play their home games at Kingsmeadow, while the under-18s play at the club's Cobham Training Centre in Cobham, Surrey. Both teams occasionally use the club's home ground Stamford Bridge for important matches.
Current squads
- Bold indicates players to have at least one first-team appearance for Chelsea.
U21 squad
- As of 4 February 2025[2]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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U18 squad
- As of 15 January 2025[3]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Management team
- As of 11 July 2024[4]
Under-21s head coach | ![]() |
Under-21s assistant | ![]() |
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Under-18s head coach | ![]() |
Under-18s assistant | ![]() |
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Notable Academy players and graduates
- Players who have at least 10 appearances for Chelsea first-team or represented a country at full international level, are categorised by the decade in which they left or graduated from the academy.
- Players who still play for Chelsea, including those that are currently out on loan to other clubs, are in bold.
Before World War II
1950s
1960s
1970s
Trevor Aylott
Brian Bason
John Bumstead
Gary Chivers
Mike Fillery
Lee Frost
Kevin Hales
Gary Johnson
Tommy Langley
Ray Lewington
Gary Locke
Teddy Maybank
Micky Nutton
Colin Pates
Peter Rhoades-Brown
Steve Sherwood
John Sitton
John Sparrow
Gary Stanley
David Stride
Clive Walker
Steve Wicks
Graham Wilkins
Ray Wilkins
Ian Britton
Steve Finnieston
1980s
1990s
2000s
Gaël Kakuta
Yves Ma-Kalambay
Ryan Bertrand
Carlton Cole
Jack Cork
Momodou Ceesay
Robert Huth
Toni Silva
Oliver Norburn
Emmanuel Sarki
Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson
Ben Sahar
Fabio Borini
Jermaine Beckford
Shaun Cummings
Anthony Grant
Dominic Poleon
Mbark Boussoufa
Bradley Woods-Garness
Jeffrey Bruma
Patrick van Aanholt
Neil Etheridge
James Younghusband
Phil Younghusband
Dean Furman
Michael Modubi
Jeffrey Ntuka
Liam Bridcutt
Warren Cummings
Michael Mancienne
Andy King
2010s
Richard Bakary
Bertrand Traoré
Faiq Bolkiah
Iké Ugbo
Ian Poveda
Victorien Angban
Jérémie Boga
Andreas Christensen
Tammy Abraham
Nathaniel Chalobah
Trevoh Chalobah
Conor Gallagher
Marc Guéhi
Callum Hudson-Odoi
Reece James
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Josh McEachran
Mason Mount
Eddie Nketiah
Declan Rice
Dominic Solanke
Fikayo Tomori
Michael Olise
Jamal Musiala
Tariq Lamptey
Louie Annesley
Aliu Djaló
Nathan Moriah-Welsh
Michael Obafemi
Jack Taylor
Di'Shon Bernard
Kasey Palmer
Mukhtar Ali
Rohan Ince
Nathan Aké
Ian Maatsen
Ola Aina
Cameron McGeehan
George Saville
Marcin Bułka
Billy Gilmour
Rowan Liburd
Aziz Deen-Conteh
Kevin Wright
Will Donkin
Michael Kedman
Daniel Phillips
Gökhan Töre
Jay Dasilva
Chris Mepham
2020s
Academy graduates in Premier League era (1992–present)
- Players who still play for Chelsea, including those that are currently out on loan to other clubs, are in bold.
Annual awards
Young Player of the Year
Academy Player of the Year
Honours
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Chelsea_3_Man_City_1_%284-2_agg%29_%2826605635752%29.jpg/220px-Chelsea_3_Man_City_1_%284-2_agg%29_%2826605635752%29.jpg)
Reserves team
- U21 Premier League / Premier League 2
- The Football Combination
- Winners (11): 1948–49, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1964–65, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1984–85, 1990–91, 1993–94
- Premier Reserve League – National Champions
- Winners (1): 2010–11
- Premier Reserve League – Southern Champions
- Winners (1): 2010–11
- London Challenge Cup
- Winners (5): 1919–20, 1926–27, 1949–50, 1959–60, 1960–61
- Metropolitan League
- Winners (3): 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58
Academy team
- UEFA Youth League
- U18 Premier League – National Champions
- Winners (2): 2016–17, 2017–18
- U18 Premier League – Southern Champions
- FA Youth Cup
- U18 Premier League Cup
- Winners (2): 2017–18, 2021–22[5]
- U17 Premier League Cup
- Winners (1): 2023–24[6]
- U16 Premier League Cup
- Winners (1): 2018–19[7]
- Southern Junior Floodlight Cup
- Winners (5): 1955–56, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64
- South East Counties League
- Winners (10): 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1973–74, 1983–84
- South East Counties League Cup
- Winners (11): 1952–53, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1983–84, 1986–87
- North Surrey Minor League
- Winners (1): 1953–54
- London Minor Challenge Cup
- Winners (3): 1949–50, 1951–52, 1953–54
References
- ^ "Group Tax Strategy". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
- ^ "Academy – U21s". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ "Academy – U18s". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
- ^ "Academy – Staff". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ "U18 Premier League Cup – Champions". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ "PL Cup report: Wolves 1–3 Chelsea". Chelsea F.C. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ "Arsenal U16 2–5 Chelsea U16: Talented young guns fall to lively Blues in showpiece final". Islington Gazette. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
External links
- About the Academy at Chelsea F.C. official website
- Why Chelsea could finally be reaping the rewards of their outstanding academy – These Football Times (2017)