Birmingham City’s academy has been upgraded to Category One three years after it was downgraded by PGAAC
16:43, 06 May 2025Updated 16:46, 06 May 2025
Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner
Birmingham City have confirmed that their academy has been upgraded to Category One status after an audit by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC).
Chairman Tom Wagner revealed the good news at Sunday’s awards ceremony and Blues have now acknowledged it on their official channels.
Blues’ academy was stripped of Category One status in 2022 but it has now been reinstated, meaning it will compete at the highest level of youth football in the country.
This will allow Blues to attract the best youth prospects in the area and provide the best coaching and education in the country. Restoring Blues to Category One was among Knighthead’s goals when they took control of the club in 2023.
Interim CEO Jeremy Dale said: “This is a landmark moment. For the club to achieve its ambition of competing at the highest levels of the game we need our academy to be regularly attracting and developing the top young players from the outstanding talent pool in and around Birmingham, and further afield.
“The academy is tasked with not only producing top-quality footballers, but also top-quality people. Category One status is a crucial next step in our goal to compete against the best at every level of the club.”
Director of football Craig Gardner added: “With the commitment and investment from the Board, our academy staff have played an instrumental role in delivering Category One status for the club.
“This will allow us to support and develop our young people and provide them with a high-quality holistic programme for them to not only love the game but also develop as people and players, and we are excited for the future.”
Academy technical director Mike Rigg said: “The team has worked tirelessly for the past 12 months to deliver Category One status for Birmingham City.
“We now have the foundations in place on which to start to build a talent pipeline, from under-8s through to the under-21s, that will benefit the club in the years ahead. The hard work starts now as the strive to become one of the best academies for youth development in the country and the world.
“While we have achieved our initial goal in earning Category One status, we must now push on and drive the highest standards across all departments to ensure our young players are given the best opportunity to succeed, and to produce homegrown players for the first-team.”
Academy manager Louisa Collis commented: “We are absolutely delighted with this news. It has been the dedication and passion of the staff, and the investment and support from the club and ownership that has made this possible.
“Our young players across all age groups will now have access to the best-in-class programmes across a range of departments, from education to sports science, as well as medicine and nutrition. The academy at Birmingham City is definitely on the rise.”
Blues’ academy has a rich history of producing talented young footballers, with its most famous export being Real Madrid and England superstar Jude Bellingham. Jobe Bellingham, George Hall and Alfie Chang are among the players to have graduated in recent years.
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