Huddersfield Town Academy promoted to Category Three status

Huddersfield Town’s Academy has been upgraded to Category Three status, seven years after they chose to downgrade it to Category Four.

The Terriers had only run sides at Under-17 and U19 level since that decision in September 2017, but new owner Kevin Nagle had vowed to reverse it when he arrived in the summer of 2023. The Academy will now take in players from the age of eight upwards following today's announcement.

The Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) audited the Academy in April and recommended to upgrade it to Category Three.

In a statement, Huddersfield said: “Having announced intentions to re-open our full Academy at the start of the 2023/24 season, a number of evaluations, audits and inspections have been required in order for the club to receive permission to continue with that work.

“Successful in all areas and criteria, the new-look Huddersfield Town Academy will operate with Category Three status from the 2024/25 campaign, with a full intake of young footballers to follow from the ages of eight upward.

“Tasked with the long-term goal of creating homegrown Town players, the project will be overseen by Academy Manager Jon Worthington, who was himself an Academy graduate.”

Worthington added: “This is a really exciting step for the Academy and a lot of hard work has gone into having our Category Three status confirmed, so our staff deserve a huge amount of credit for that.

“Our job is now to create an environment in which young footballers can learn, develop and grow, building themselves into Huddersfield Town First Team players of the future, whilst learning and adopting the beliefs and principles of our club.

“A product of our youth system, I know first-hand just how important these early years can be both personally and professionally, and we will be doing everything in our power to ensure our Academy is built to compete and enrich.”

The Terriers were relegated to League One last season.