FA Youth Cup

FA Youth Cup

The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It is dominated by the youth sides of professional teams, mostly from the Premier League, but attracts over 400 entrants from throughout the country.

At the end of the Second World War the FA had decided to organise a Youth Championship for County Associations considering it the best way to stimulate the game among those youngsters not yet old enough to play senior football. The matches did not attract large crowds but outstanding players were selected for Youth Internationals and thousands were given the chance to play in a national contest for the first time. In 1951 it was realised that a competition for clubs would probably have a wider appeal. The FA Youth Challenge Cup (season 1952-53) was restricted to the youth teams of clubs, both professional and amateur, who were members of the FA.

Manchester United are the competition's most successful club, winning it ten times. The current holders are Chelsea.

The tournament has served as a springboard into the professional game for many top British players. The likes of George Best, John Barnes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson and Gareth Bale had all won the tournament or played in the final. The 1991-92 FA Youth Cup famously spawned the rise of Fergie's Fledglings.