As the EFL kicks off Youth Development Week, celebrating the outstanding work being done across all EFL clubs to nurture and develop young players, Cambridge United Football Club is proud to shine a spotlight on the achievements of our Academy both on-and-off the pitch...
The 2024/25 season has been another year of progress for our homegrown talent:
- 5,800 minutes were played by Academy graduates in first-team fixtures.
- Four first-team debuts were handed out across all competitions last season.
- Liam Bennett and Mamadou Jobe, who both joined the Academy as U18s, are now established members of the first-team squad.
- Former U’s Academy defender Harry Darling continues to make an impression in the Championship, following his summer move to Norwich City.
- Our pathway continues to inspire the next generation, with six Academy schoolboys making the step up to Category One Premier League Academies during the past year.
At Cambridge United, development goes beyond the pitch. The Academy takes pride in providing a strong educational framework to support every player’s journey:
- From the 2023–2025 scholar cohort, four of the seven graduating players achieved the top BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma grade of DDD*, with all seven exceeding their predicted grades by up to three levels.
- Each scholar also successfully completed the Sporting Excellence Professional (SEP) Level 3 apprenticeship, all earning distinctions following their rigorous final assessments.
- Looking ahead, our current second-year scholars are already on track to achieve at least two grades higher than originally predicted, with preparations for their SEP assessments well underway.
The achievements of the Academy reflect Cambridge United’s wider commitment to nurturing well-rounded individuals — developing not only footballers but also confident, resilient young people prepared for life on and off the pitch.
Throughout the EFL's Youth Development Week, our channels will highlight just some of the success stories that demonstrate the strength of the club's Academy.
