Southampton F.C. Under-21s and Academy or Saints U21s and Academy is the youth organisation run by

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club is a professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, befor ...

to encourage and develop young footballers in the south of England. Renowned players including

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, and the Wales national ...

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and won 47 caps, scoring eight goals. Walcott currently appears as a cl ...

, and

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

began their careers at this academy. The team is made up of under-21 and academy players, is effectively Southampton's second-string side, but is limited to three outfield players and one goalkeeper over the age of 21 per game following the introduction of new regulations from the 2012–13 season. They play in Premier League 2, Division 2. The team also competes in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

Premier League International Cup The Premier League International Cup is an English football competition for under-23 teams from across Europe. It was designed to provide players in English Category One academies with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite Euro ...

, Premier League Cup and the

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, except 1914 to 1919 when it was postponed due t ...

. The under-18 players among other younger age groups make up the Academy team and play in the Premier League U18 First Division, South, Premier League U18 Cup and the

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 ...

. Home fixtures are contested at A.F.C. Totton's Testwood Stadium with some fixtures being held at St. Mary's. Some games are played at the club's training facilities at Staplewood in Long Lane,

Marchwood Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6, ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

if required. Since February 2025, the Under 21s have been managed by Calum MacFarlane while since February 2025, the Under 18s have been managed by Ricky King and

Andrew Surman Andrew Ronald Edward Surman (born 20 August 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made over 100 appearances for both Southampton and AFC Bournemouth. Surman also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Walsall, N ...

on an interim basis.

Age categories

* Under 21 ''(professionals)'' * Under 18 * Under 16 * Under 15 * Under 14 * Under 13 * Under 12 * Under 11 * Under 10 * Under 9 * Under 8

International players

Amongst the players who passed through the Saints Academy and went on to represent their country since the turn of the Millennium are: * Chris Baird *

Richard Bakary Mohamed Richard Bakary (born 17 October 1997) is a footballer who plays as a winger for Bournemouth FC. He has represented Benin at senior international level. Club career Having started his career as an attacking player he signed for Chelsea ...

Leon Best Leon Julian Brendan Best (born 19 September 1986) is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He has played for the Republic of Ireland national football team. Best represented Ireland at under-21 level and won his first full ...

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton F. ...

Dexter Blackstock Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock (born 20 May 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played most notably for Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest. Having represented England at youth international level, Bla ...

Alan Blayney Alan Blayney (born 9 October 1981) is a retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is now the first team goalkeeper coach at NIFL Premiership side Larne. Beginning his professional career with Southampton in the Premier Lea ...

Faiq Jefri Bolkiah Faiq Jefri Bolkiah (born 9 May 1998) is a member of the Brunei royal family and professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ratchaburi in Thai League 1. Born in the United States, he has represented and served as the captain of the Br ...

Wayne Bridge Wayne Michael Bridge (born 5 August 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back. A graduate of the Southampton academy, he made his debut in 1998 and would go on to make over 150 league appearances in Premier L ...

Calum Chambers Calum Chambers (born 20 January 1995) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for club Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City. Originally a member of Southampton F.C., Southampton's Southa ...

Arron Davies Arron Rhys Davies (born 22 June 1984) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He made one appearance for the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Early life Davies was brought ...

Yoann Folly Yoann Folly (born 6 June 1985) is a retired footballer. His previous clubs include St. Étienne in France, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth Argyle in England and Aberdeen in Scotland. Born in France, he represented Togo at internat ...

Danny Ings Daniel William John Ings (born 23 July 1992) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. He will become a free agent on 1 Ju ...

Lloyd Isgrove Lloyd Jeffrey Isgrove (born 12 January 1993) is a professional footballer who plays for National Premier Leagues Victoria club Hume City. Isgrove plays primarily as a winger, but he is also comfortable playing in other midfield positions and ...

Adam Lallana Adam David Lallana ( ; born 10 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Southampton, and is also interim assistant manager at the club. Lallana began his youth career with AFC Bournemouth b ...

Scott McDonald Scott Douglas McDonald (born 21 August 1983) is an Australian former professional footballer and is the current head coach for National Premier Leagues club Gold Coast Knights. Originally a striker, McDonald could also play as an attacking mi ...

David McGoldrick David James McGoldrick (born 29 November 1987) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for club Notts County F.C., Notts County. He will become a free agent when his contract expi ...

Tyrone Mings Tyrone Deon Mings (born 13 March 1993) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the England national football team, England national team. Mings started h ...

Bevis Mugabi Bevis Kristofer Kizito Mugabi (born 1 May 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot First Division team Anorthosis Famagusta. Born in England, he represents the Uganda national team. He has previously played in th ...

* Jamal Musiala *

Michael Obafemi Michael Oluwadurotimi Obafemi (born 6 July 2000) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Burnley and the Republic of Ireland national team. Early life Obafemi was born in Dublin to Nigerian parents. While he was ...

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain (born 15 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He earned 35 caps for the England national team between 2012 and 2019. After rising t ...

Andrejs Perepļotkins Andrejs Perepļotkins (, ''Andriy Igorovych Pereplyotkin''; born 27 December 1984) is a Ukrainian born Latvian former footballer, who used to primarily play as a winger. Although born in Ukraine, he played internationally for Latvia from 2007 ...

Lewis Price Lewis Peter Price (born 19 July 1984) is a retired Welsh international professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the First-Team Goalkeeping Coach for EFL Championship club Oxford United. Apart from making 6 Premier Lea ...

Ben Reeves Benjamin Neil Reeves (born 19 November 1991) is a professional football coach and former player who is an Under-21s support player at club Southampton. Born in England, he has been capped twice for the Northern Ireland national team. Club ca ...

Luke Shaw Luke Paul Hoare Shaw (born 12 July 1995) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and the England national football team, England national team. Ori ...

* Will Smallbone * Tim Sparv * Nathan Tella *

Jake Thomson Jake Samuel Thomson (born 12 May 1989) is a semi-professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for AFC Stoneham. Before playing in non-League football, Thomson played in the Championship for Southampton. A youth international footballer f ...

* Yan Valery *

James Ward-Prowse James Michael Edward Ward-Prowse (born 1 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club West Ham United. Originally a member of Southampton's youth teams, Ward-Prowse made his first-team debut ...

* Ben White * Stuart Wilkin In the past, prior to the establishment of the academy, the Southampton youth system has produced other international players, including

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English former professional footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made a club-record 808 appearances across 18 seasons. He playe ...

Martin Chivers Martin Harcourt Chivers (born 27 April 1945) is an English retired professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He began his career with his hometown club Southampton F.C., Southampton, be ...

, Steve Williams,

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward and represented the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his career, mainly for Southampton, he becam ...

Matthew Le Tissier Matthew Paul Le Tissier (; born 14 October 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Le Tissier spent his entire professional club career with Southampton, before turning to non-League football in 2002; his loyalty gar ...

, Kevin Phillips,

and

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001. Beginning his career at Wimbledon, ...

. Four former Saints academy players featured in the England Under-21 match against Montenegro on 7 September 2007:

Martin Cranie Martin James Cranie (born 26 September 1986) is an English former professional footballer. He last played as a centre back and right back for Championship club Luton Town. He is a former England U21 international. He began his career with the ...

and

both started (with Walcott setting up the second goal) whilst

and

came on as second-half substitutes, with Surman scoring the final goal in a 3–0 victory, tapping the ball home in stoppage time from a knock-down by Blackstock. In England's international friendly against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 5 March 2014, three graduates of the Southampton F.C. Academy appeared as second-half substitutes:

(making his debut),

and

Present structure

Andy Goldie is the current Academy Director, having joined the club from

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

in July 2023. His assistant, Duncan Fearnhead, is the Academy Manager, having previously held the same role at

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. The current academy set up has teams at all age groups from Under 8s all the way through to the professional U21 team, employing large number of coaches and educational staff. Academy players from the age of 16 up until the age of 18 are often looked after by Host Families within the local area. The aim of the Southampton academy is to "...produce Premiership class players..." Southampton has regularly reached the latter stages of the

, as well as being successful in the FA Premier Academy League championship. In the 2010–2011 season the U18s were only just "...Pipped to the Title..." by one point on the last day of the season of the Group A league. Southampton had to win and Fulham had to draw or lose for Southampton to come top. After winning 1–3 away to Coventry City the U18s were dismayed to discover Fulham had come back from being 0–3 down versus Leicester City to win 5–3. The academy has joined up with local college

Sparsholt College Sparsholt College, formerly also known as Hampshire College of Agriculture, is a Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) college located at Sparsholt near Winchester, with a secondary campus in Andover, both in Hampshire in the south ...

to try to give those footballers who have missed out on a scholarship the opportunity to remain in the game and train and play matches with the Southampton Academy. In May 2013, Andre Villas-Boas, manager of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

praised the Southampton Academy for its ability to produce star players, describing it as "a great school of development" and comparing it to the Sporting Lisbon's youth academy in Portugal. In April 2015, a

U21 side won the U21 Premier League Cup, defeating a

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

U21 side in the two-legged final at

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is a seated but also safe-standing football stadium in Southampton, Hampshire, England, which has been the home stadium of club Southampton since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest footbal ...

in front of more than 12,000 fans. Goals from

Ryan Seager Ryan Paul Seager (born 5 February 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for side Havant & Waterlooville. He has been capped twice for England U17. Club career Southampton Seager made his debut for the club in an ...

and Sam Gallagher cancelled out a Matt Targett own goal to give Southampton a 2–1 victory after extra time to win the second edition of the cup. In September 2020, Southampton revamped their Under-23s programme to 'enhance the pathway into the first team for its younger players.' A 'structure and philosophical overhaul' saw the Under-23s side become a B team. The new B team will mirror the training programmes, coaching and style of play of the first team. Training and fixtures, where possible, will also be organised so it does not clash with the first team so the first team manager and coaches can watch the side train or play and also take part in coaching sessions. The side will still continue to participate in the same competitions as before the revamp. Under new club Director of Football Matt Crocker, individual player coaches have been brought-in to try and improve players coming through the academy. Lee Skyrme was appointed B team individual player coach in 2021, while Mikey Harris was appointed in the same role for the U18s in the same year. Harris was replaced in 2022 by Pete Haynes, with Harris having been promoted to U18 head coach.

Under-21 team squad

Players (excluding scholars) who will qualify as Under-21 team players in season 2025–26 (i.e. born on or after 1 January 2005) and who are outside the first team squad. * Squad numbers represent numbers given to players for first team and

matches only. * ± Denotes a player on an 'extended scholarship'. * * Denotes a player who is overage (born before 1 January 2005) and outside of the first team squad.

Under-21 team

Leagues

* Premier League 2, Division 2 **Champions: 2022–23 **2nd ''(promoted via playoffs)'': 2018–19

Cups

* U21 Premier League Cup **Winners: 2014–15 *Southampton Senior Cup **Winners: 2017–18 *South Shields International Tournament **Winners: 2018–19

Under-18 squad

Academy 2nd Years 2025–2026

* * = Professional contracts

U18 honours

Leagues

* U18 Premier League, Division 1 **Champions (South Group), National runners-up'': 2021–22

Cups

**Runners-up: 2004–05

Staff

; Academy Leads *Academy Director: Andy Goldie *Academy Manager: Duncan Fearnhead *Head of Academy Coaching: Ricky King *Head of Academy Recruitment: Chris Robinson *Head of Academy Performance: Tom Sturdy *Head of Player Strategy:

Olly Lancashire Oliver James Lancashire (born 13 December 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He is currently Head of Player Strategy at club Southampton. Lancashire began his career as a youth player for Crystal P ...

; Under-21 / Under-18 management *U21 Coach: Calum MacFarlane *U21 Assistant Coach:

Matthew Etherington Matthew Etherington (born 14 August 1981) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, footballer who is currently Under-21 assistant at Southampton F.C., Southampton. As a player, E ...

*U18 Interim Coach: Ricky King *U18 Interim Coach:

*Development Goalkeeping Coach: Ryan Flood

Academy graduates (2000–present)

A number of players from the Southampton F.C. Academy have gone on to have careers in professional football, whether at Southampton or at other clubs. The following is a list of players who have made their Southampton first-team debuts since the turn of the millennium. Players who have represented Southampton in only the

are not included in this list. Academy graduates who still play for Southampton, including those that are currently out on loan to other clubs, are highlighted in green. Where players have made their debut in the same fixture, they are sorted alphabetically by surname.

References

External links

Southampton Under-23s
at saintsfc.co.uk
Southampton Under-18s
at saintsfc.co.uk
The Southampton FC academy way
– ''These Football Times'' (2015) {{Reserve and Youth football in England Professional Development League

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Football academies in England Premier League International Cup