Category Three status for Huddersfield Town Academy
It means players will get the chance to receive professional coaching and development opportunities
Last updated 5th Sep 2024
The new-look Huddersfield Town academy has been awarded Category Three status - giving players professional coaching and development opportunities.
Bosses at the club have called it an 'exciting step' in their investment into their youth and future.
They add their job is to now build young footballers into first team players of the future.
This all comes off the back of the club announcing their intentions to re-open their full Academy at the start of the 2023/24 season.
They've since had to go through a number of evaluations, audits and inspections - and will now officially receive the Category Three status for the 2024/5 campaign.
It now means they will be able to host a full intake of young footballers - from as young as the age of eight.
Tasked with the long-term goal of creating homegrown Town players, the project will be overseen by Academy Manager Jon Worthington, who was himself an Academy graduate.
Huddersfield Town CEO Jake Edwards said: “Investing in our youth and future is of great strategic importance to what we’re trying to achieve as a Club long-term, with Chairman Kevin Nagle a huge believer in that philosophy.
“We are proud of how our existing Academy staff have embraced this challenge and passed the necessary tests with flying colours, and this gives us a platform from which to build going forward.
“Supporters will now begin to see changes, with new infrastructure planned to support our staff and players to give them the best possible chance of succeeding in the future.”
Huddersfield Town Academy Manager Jon Worthington said: “This is a really exciting step for the Academy and a lot of hard work has gone into having our Category Three status confirmed, so our staff deserve a huge amount of credit for that.
“Our job is now to create an environment in which young footballers can learn, develop and grow, building themselves into Huddersfield Town First Team players of the future, whilst learning and adopting the beliefs and principles of our Club.
“A product of our youth system, I know first hand just how important these early years can be both personally and professionally, and we will be doing everything in our power to ensure our Academy is built to compete and enrich.”
You can find out more about the trials here.