The Premier League have announced a radical change to top tier youth football in England, with Premier League 2 expanded into one 26-team league for the forthcoming season.
Following the 'Swiss model' which will be seen in the Champions League from the beginning of the 2024-25 season, Premier League 2 will now move away from the old model which saw 14 teams in Division One and 11 teams in Division Two, with two clubs relegated and two promoted between the divisions after they had played all the teams in their division home and away.
In the new system, all 26 teams with Category One academies will be placed in the same division, but they won't all play each other home and away.
Instead they will initially be placed into five pots which will be determined by their performances in Premier League 2 over the past three seasons, with fixtures decided by a draw from those pots.
Teams will only be able to play another team from their pot once, either home or away, and also three to five teams from all the other pots either home or away.
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That will add up to 20 regular season games for each club, after which the league table will rank the clubs from 1-26, with the top 16 qualifying for a single match elimination playoff. These playoffs will be determined by the league positions, with first facing 16th, second facing 15th, and so on, with the higher-ranked club playing at home.
Manchester United and Tottenham in Premier League 2 action (Getty Images)The 26 clubs with Category One academy status in the new division are: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Derby, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham and Wolves. The fixtures for the new season will be announced next Monday.
Explaining the reasons for the new system, the Premier League said: "The change came about after an extensive review of PDP competitions, which sought to enhance the transition of talented Academy players into senior football, and engaged various stakeholders, including football directors, Academy managers, first-team coaches and Academy players.
Manchester City have won Premier League 2 in each of the last three seasons (Getty Images)"The removal of relegation introduces positive jeopardy; it supports clubs making development-first decisions, and minimises the impact of relegation on future groups of U21 players.
"Also the experience of playoffs will open up to 16 teams rather than the four in Division 2 of previous seasons.
"The new format will also give teams a greater breadth of fixtures, playing 20 different opponents, compared with only 13 in Division 1 and only 10 in Division 2.
"The single division format also provides greater flexibility to add or decrease the number of fixtures in future seasons, dependent on the number of teams in the league, as well as access to additional development opportunities, including matches against senior teams and international opposition."
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