Southampton F.C. B team and Academy or Saints B and Academy is the youth organisation run by

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

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 professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with So ...

, and

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

began their careers at this academy. The team is made up of under-23 and academy players, is effectively Southampton's second-string side, but is limited to three outfield players and one goalkeeper over the age of 23 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, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

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 ...

, 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, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it was p ...

. 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, United Kingdom. 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 201 ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

if required. Since September 2020, the B team has been managed by David Horseman, while since August 2022, the Under 18s have been managed by Mikey Harris.

Age categories

* B team ''(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 Christopher Patrick Baird (born 25 February 1982) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who last played for Derby County and represented the Northern Ireland national football team from 2003 to 2016. His preferred position was righ ...

Richard Bakary Mohamed Richard Bakary (born 17 October 1997 in Porto-Novo, Benin) is a footballer who plays as a defender for A.F.C. Totton. Career Club career Having started his career as an attacking player he signed for Chelsea before Southampton swooped a ...

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 ful ...

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Millwall. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton in 2006. After six years at Southampton, h ...

* Dexter Blackstock *

Alan Blayney Alan Blayney (born 9 October 1981) is a professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was recognised at the IFA Premiership and Irish Cup several times. He is now the first team goalkeeper coach at NIFL Premiership side Larne. Club c ...

Faiq Jefri Bolkiah Faiq Jefri Bolkiah (born 9 May 1998) is a member of the House of Bolkiah, Bruneian Royal Family and a Bruneian professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Thai club Chonburi F.C., Chonburi. He has served as the cap ...

Wayne Bridge Wayne Michael Bridge (born 5 August 1980) is an English former footballer who played as a left back. A graduate of the Southampton Academy where he made his debut in 1998, Bridge also played for Chelsea, West Ham, Manchester City, Fulham and S ...

Calum Chambers Calum Chambers (born 20 January 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for club Aston Villa. Originally a member of Southampton's academy system, Chambers was promoted to the first team at the be ...

Arron Davies Arron Rhys Davies (born 22 June 1984) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made one appearance for the Wales national team. Early life Davies was brought up in Llantwit Major, where he attended Llantwit ...

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 interna ...

Danny Ings Daniel William John Ings (born 23 July 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Aston Villa. Ings started his career in the youth team of Southampton but was released as a schoolboy. He subsequently joined ...

Lloyd Isgrove Lloyd Jeffrey Isgrove (born 12 January 1993) is a professional footballer who plays for Bolton Wanderers. Isgrove plays primarily as a winger, but he is also comfortable playing in other midfield positions and as a forward. He has one cap for ...

Adam Lallana Adam David Lallana ( ; born 10 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Brighton & Hove Albion. Lallana began his youth career with AFC Bournemouth before transferring to Southampton in 200 ...

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 mid ...

David McGoldrick David James McGoldrick (born 29 November 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Derby County. He won 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team between 2014 and 2020, scoring one international goal. A train ...

Tyrone Mings Tyrone Deon Mings (born 13 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Aston Villa and the England national team. Mings started his career playing non-League football with Yate Town, having previou ...

* Bevis Mugabi *

Jamal Musiala Jamal Musiala (born 26 February 2003) is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Nicknamed "Bambi", Musiala is known for his world-class dribbling a ...

Michael Obafemi Michael Oluwadurotimi Obafemi (born 6 July 2000) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Swansea City and the Irish national team. Early life Obafemi was born in Dublin to Nigerian parents. Wh ...

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain (born 15 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool. After rising to prominence with Southampton during the 2010–11 season aged 17, Oxlade-Chambe ...

Andrejs Perepļotkins Andrejs Perepļotkins ( uk, Андрій Ігорович Перепльоткін, ''Andriy Igorovych Pereplyotkin''; born 27 December 1984) is a Ukrainian born Latvian footballer, who plays primarily as a right winger for SK Super Nova. Alth ...

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 League One club Milton Keynes Dons. Apart from making 6 Premier Lea ...

Ben Reeves Benjamin Neil Reeves (born 19 November 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for League Two club Gillingham. Born in England, he has been capped twice for the Northern Ireland national team. Club career ...

Luke Shaw Luke Paul Hoare Shaw (born 12 July 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Manchester United and the England national team. Originally a member of Southampton's youth system, Shaw made his first-team debu ...

* Will Smallbone *

Tim Sparv Tim Sparv (born 20 February 1987) is a Finnish former professional association football, footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Sparv was born in Oravais, and started his football career in Norrvalla FF youth team before moving to Sout ...

Jake Thomson Jake Samuel Thomson (born 12 May 1989) is an English 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 for Engla ...

Yan Valery Yan Valery ( ar, يان فاليري; born 22 February 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Ligue 1 club Angers and the Tunisia national team. He began his senior career in England with Premier League club Southam ...

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 Southampton and the England national team. Originally a member of Southampton's youth teams, Ward-Prowse ...

* 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 retired footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made over 800 appearances (a club record) in 18 seasons with the club. H ...

Martin Chivers Martin Harcourt Chivers (born 27 April 1945) is an English retired professional footballer from the 1960s and 1970s. Playing career Southampton Chivers attended Taunton's Grammar School, Southampton, and wrote to his local club, Southampton f ...

, Steve Williams,

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward, most notably for Southampton, and went on to represent the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his c ...

Matthew Le Tissier Matthew Paul Le Tissier (; born 14 October 1968) is a former professional footballer. Born in Guernsey, he won eight caps for the England national team. Le Tissier spent his entire professional club career with Southampton before turning to no ...

, 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 is the president of Serie B side Como 1907. He is best known for having spent the majority of his c ...

. 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 professional association football, footballer who is currently a free agent. He most recently played as a centre back and right back for EFL Championship, Championship club Luton Town F. ...

and

both started (with Walcott setting up the second goal) whilst Dexter Blackstock 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, ...

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

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

(making his debut),

and

Present structure

Matt Hale is the current Academy Director, stepping up from his role as Academy Manager in July 2019. He is assisted by Natasha Patel, who returned to the club in 2023 following a spell at

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. The current academy set up has teams at all age groups from Under 8s all the way through to the professional B team, employing large number of coaches and educational staff.

Iain Brunnschweiler Iain Brunnschweiler (born 10 December 1979) is an English former professional cricketer, and semi-professional footballer. As a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper he played first-class cricket for Hampshire between 2000 and 2003. He played ...

is the current Coach Development Manager for the academy. Academy players from the age of 16 up until the age of 18 are often looked after by Host Families within the local area. Director of Football operations Matt Crocker, who was previously Academy Manager, and current CEO

Rasmus Ankersen Rasmus Ankersen (born 22 September 1983) is an author, public speaker, director of football at Southampton and president of Göztepe. He is the co-founder and CEO of Sport Republic, the major shareholder of EFL Championship club Southampton an ...

currently oversee academy recruitment, while Rod Ruddick, Jim Flood and Wayne Stephens are all involved in youth recruitment for the academy along with the club scouting team. 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 The Premier Academy League (sometimes abbreviated as FAPAL) was the top level of youth football in England before it was to be replaced by a new league proposed by the Elite Player Performance Plan in 2012, which was accepted by the 72 member c ...

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 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 of England. The college provides courses from sixth form ...

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 Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

praised the Southampton Academy for its ability to produce star players, describing it as "a great school of development" and comparing it to

Sporting Lisbon Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. In April 2015, a

U21 side won the

U21 Premier League Cup The Premier League Cup is an English football competition run by the Premier League for under–21 sides. History The competition was created in 2013 as the U21 Premier League Cup, an U21 equivalent of the FA Youth Cup (an U18 competition com ...

, defeating a

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

U21 side in the two-legged final at

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Southampton, England, which has been the home stadium of Premier League club Southampton F.C. since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest football stadium ...

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 National League side Dorking Wanderers. He has been capped twice for England U17. Club career Southampton Seager made his debut for the c ...

and Sam Gallagher cancelled out a

Matt Targett Matthew Robert Targett (born 18 September 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for Premier League club Newcastle United. Targett came through the Southampton academy and was named their ''Young Player of the Season'' in 2 ...

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 into 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.

B team squad

Players (excluding scholars) who will qualify as B team players in season 2022–23 (i.e. born on or after 1 January 2001) 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 2001) and outside of the first team squad.

Out on loan

B team & U23 Honours

Leagues

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

Cups

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

Under-18 squad

Academy 2nd Years 2022–23

* * = Professional contracts

Academy 1st Years 2022–23

* * = 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: Matt Hale *Assistant Academy Director: Natasha Patel *Head of Youth Recruitment: Dan Rice *Head of Academy Medical Services: Tom Sturdy *Coach Development Manager:

; B team / Under-18 management *B team Coach: David Horseman *B team Individual Player Coach: Lee Skyrme *U18 Coach: Mikey Harris *U18 Individual Player Coach: Pete Haynes *Development Coach: Louis Carey *Development Coach:

Sam McQueen Samuel James McQueen (born 6 February 1995) is an English former professional footballer. Other than loan periods at Southend United in 2016 and Middlesbrough in 2018, he spent his career at hometown club Southampton, having joined the club's a ...

*Development Goalkeeping Coach: Ryan Flood *Development Goalkeeping Coach: Steve Grinham *Academy Liaison Officer: Ian Herding

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 secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Football academies in England Premier League International Cup