Premier League announce huge competition change that will impact Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham
The Premier League have announced a huge change to top tier youth football in England. The Premier League 2 is set to be expanded into one 26-team league for the forthcoming 2023/24 season.
Many Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur talents develop and use the Premier League 2 to help stake a claim to break into the senior squad. The Premier League's decision to follow the 'Swiss model' — which will be seen in the Champions League from the beginning of the 2024-25 season — will now see the Premier League 2 move away from the old model which saw 14 teams in Division One and 11 teams in Division Two.
Two clubs would be relegated and two promoted between the divisions after they had played all the teams in their division home and away, but that is set to change from the start of the 2023/24 campaign. In the new system, all 26 teams with Category One academies will be placed in the same division, but they won't all play each other home and away.
Instead, they will initially be placed into five pots. Each pot will be determined by their performances in Premier League 2 over the past three seasons, with fixtures decided by a draw from those pots — similar to that of the Champions League group stage.
The 26 clubs with Category One academy status involved in the new Premier League 2 division include: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Derby, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham and Wolves.
Teams will only be able to play another team from their pot once and also three to five teams from all the other pots — either home or away.
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