Leicester City Under-21s are the former reserve team of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. The team mainly consists of under-21 players at the club, although senior players occasionally play in the reserve side, for instance when they are recovering from injury. The Under-21s team are managed by Ben Petty and they play in

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

. Leicester City F.C. Academy are the youth team of

directed by Jon Rudkin and managed by Adam Barradell. Leicester City's academy has held Category 1 status under the

Elite Player Performance Plan The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) is a youth development scheme initiated by the Premier League. The intention of the EPPP is to improve the quality and quantity of home-grown players produced by top English clubs. Measures introduced by th ...

since July 2013.

History

Although less famous than the likes of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

's youth systems, the Leicester City Academy has been one of the more productive academies in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

. England internationals

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...

David Nish David John Nish (born 26 September 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. Nish's £225,000 transfer from Leicester City to Derby County in 1972 broke the British transfer record.BBC NewsWere you there...when the Rams ...

, Steve Whitworth,

Emile Heskey Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who currently serves as head of football development of Leicester City Women. Playing as a striker, he made more than 500 appearances in the Foo ...

Ben Chilwell Benjamin James Chilwell (born 21 December 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Chelsea and the England national team. Beginning his career at Leicester City, Chilwell had a loan spell with Huddersfiel ...

and

Harvey Barnes Harvey Lewis Barnes (born 9 December 1997) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for club Leicester City F.C., Leicester City. Early life Barnes was born in Burnley, L ...

as well as

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

, who played for and managed England all began their careers with the ''Foxes''.

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footba ...

, a Scottish international, former footballer of the year and a double winning captain with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, who was described by

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded, due to his achievements with the club, ...

as the "player of the decade" at the end of the 1970s also came through the ''Foxes''' ranks. Leicester's all-time top appearance makers

Graham Cross Graham Frederick Cross (born 15 November 1943) is a former professional footballer and cricketer. He is the record appearance holder for Leicester City, making 599 appearances for the club in all competitions. Football career Cross was born in ...

and

Sep Smith Septimus Charles "Sep" Smith (15 March 1912 – 28 July 2006) was an English footballer who played as a creative wing half and originally as an inside forward. Born in Whitburn, County Durham, in 1912, he was the seventh son born in his famil ...

were also among notable products of the academy. On 8 April 2013, Leicester City Under 21s won the newly formed 2012–13 Professional Development League 2 with a game to go, qualifying for the knockout stage. However they exited the national play-off at the semi-final stage, after losing 3–2 to

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. On 26 May 2013, the Leicester City Development Squad & Academy won the

HKFC International Soccer Sevens The HKFC Soccer Sevens, formerly known as the International Soccer Sevens, is an annual invitational seven-a-side football tournament which is organised and hosted by Hong Kong Football Club. Held since 1999, many young professional players have m ...

cup, beating Newcastle United Reserves and Academy 2–0 thanks to goals from

Michael Cain Michael Cain (born April 2, 1966) is a pianist and composer. Biography Cain attended several universities starting with the University of North Texas. Although initially a jazz major, he found that classical music was occupying more of his ...

and Harry Panayiotou. The latter also went on to win player of the tournament. On 4 July, it was announced that Leicester City's academy had been awarded category one status, the highest level under the Premier League's

. By finishing 6th in the 2013–14 Professional U21 Development League, Leicester City U21s qualified for the inaugural, 2014–15 edition, of the

Premier League International Cup The Premier League International Cup is an English football competition for U23 players from across Europe. It was designed to provide players in English Category One academies with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European ...

, being drawn in Group C with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Benfica and

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. On 24 November 2014, Leicester City U21s became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals, after defeating Schalke 04 and Benfica, both 2–0 at the

King Power Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

. After having almost been relegated from Premier League 2 Division 1 in 2016–2017, Leicester Under 23s went on to finish third in PL2, while also getting to the semi-finals of the Premier League Cup. In addition, several of the under 23's gained first team experience under manager

Claude Puel Claude Jacques Puel (; born 2 September 1961) is a French football manager and former player. He spent his entire playing career with Monaco, before becoming manager of the club, leading them to the league title in his first full season in char ...

with

and

Hamza Choudhury Hamza Dewan Choudhury (born 1 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for EFL Championship side Watford, on loan from Leicester City. He has made over 80 appearances for Leicester since 2017, and ...

playing prominent roles towards the end of the 2017–2018 season. This subsequently lead to

gaining his first England Under 21s cap during the Toulan Tournament. On 13 June 2020 the club announced that long-serving coach

Trevor Peake Trevor Peake (born 10 February 1957) is an English retired football player and coach. In his playing career he represented Nuneaton Borough, Lincoln City, Luton Town, and Coventry City, with whom he won the 1987 FA Cup. He went into coaching a ...

was stepping down from his role as Under-18s coach after 17 years of service. Former under 12–16 Youth Development Phase Coach Adam Barradell took responsibility of the Under-18s during the summer of 2020. Having been in Premier League 2 Division 1 since its establishment as part of the

Leicester Under 23s were relegated to Division 2 on 10 May 2021 following a season that saw a number of under 23's players promoted to train with the first team due to a substantial injury list. However, following an expansion of Premier League 2 Division 2 to 14 clubs, Leicester Under 23s were reinstated to the top division for the upcoming 2021–2022 season despite finishing second from bottom during the previous season.

Players

Under 21s

Out on loan

Under 18s

Staff

Notable Graduates

Current Leicester City players in bold. Year of senior debut given in parenthesis.

Honours

U21

* Premier League 2 Division 1 **Runner-up: 2019–2020 *U21 Professional Development League 2 North Division ** Winners (1): 2012–2013

Academy

**Shield Winners (1): 2011–2012 **Cup Winners (2): 2012–2013, 2016–2017 **Plate Winners (1): 2013–2014 *U15 Premier League Category 2 National Trophy **Winners (1): 2012–2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leicester City Development Squad and Academy Reserves and Academy Football academies in England Premier League International Cup UEFA Youth League teams