PREMIER LEAGUE

STAFF
98.4. be in possession of such qualification as the League may require from time to time;
98.5. undertake at least 5 hours of in-service training each year;
98.6. undertake Continued Professional Development organised by the Club; and
98.7. be Full Time in the case of Category 1 and Category 2 Academies, and at least Part Time in
the case of Category 3 and 4 Academies.
Guidance
1. Ideally a Club’s strategy for talent identification and recruitment should flow from its Football Philosophy and be fully
integrated into its Academy Performance Plan and the multi-disciplinary approach to youth development envisaged
by the Elite Player Performance Plan. Clubs may wish to document a recruitment strategy which sets out:
• the profile of the players it seeks to recruit in each age group, having regard to the desired technical, tactical,
maturation, social and psychological characteristics required at each age;
• its target groups (e.g. local v national recruitment, players attending Development Centres or local schools/boys’
clubs etc);
• synchronisation between coaches and recruiters to ensure that, for example, assessment procedures match those
by which the Academy’s existing Academy Players are assessed, and that new recruits transit easily into the
Academy environment;
• a strategy for late developers (including the Academy’s own Academy Players whose maturation rates are slow but
who eventually catch up with their peers); and ensuring accurate scouting records are maintained.
Clubs may then wish to develop an activity plan to implement the recruitment strategy.
2. With regard to Rule 98.4 above, it is envisaged that a new qualification for scouts will be developed in due course. For
the moment, the qualification required is the Football Association’s Scouting Talent Identification Course (i.e. the
qualification for Scouts currently required by Premier League Rules).
3. This section of the Rules should be read subject to Rule 44.
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YOUTH DEVELOPMENT RULES