| Full name | Cardiff City | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Bluebirds | ||
| Founded | 2003 | ||
| Chairman | Dato Chan Tien Ghee | ||
| Manager | Neal Ardley | ||
| League | Premier Academy League U18 Group B | ||
| 2010–11 | Premier Academy League U18 Group B, 8th | ||
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The Cardiff City F.C. Academy is the youth academy currently set up at Cardiff City in order to discover and nurture young talent. The academy has a range of players from ages seven to 18.
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The youth academy was set up in 2003[1], the youth team however has taken part in several FA Youth Cup and Welsh Youth Cup competition before 2003. According to the official Cardiff City FC Website, [2]
"the Cardiff City football academy, is not simply a scheme, or a group of young players and coaches. It is all of these things; but most importantly, it is a philosophy and a culture. The club has always been dependent upon, and focused around the local community. The great players and teams throughout the clubs' history have always been built on the foundations of local boys and local talent. Cardiff City has a fantastic and proud history of nurturing young talent and are committed to continuous development of youth teams in future years. Cardiff City Football Club is fully committed to their fantastic academy, and recognises the importance of youth development".
Cardiff's scouts currently concentrate on searching South Wales, Hereford, Worcester, Swindon and Oxford. Now looking towards other areas of the United Kingdom including Ireland and Scotland with the recent appointment of scouts in these areas by Neal Ardley[3] Cardiff scouts are also based in foreign countries such as Austria, France and Guinea, with players coming to the academy from these countries.
Cardiff City also have an academy in capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. As their owners from 2010, Vincent Tan and Chan Tien Ghee are from the Asian country as well as other of their board members.[4]
The Under-18s team regularly merge with several out of favour first team players to form the reserve squad.
Those in bold have been capped at full international level. Those marked * progressed prior to academy status confirmed.
Geraint Twose (12–16 year olds) Mark Neville (7–11 year olds)
Geraint Twose
Ryan Mackerness
Vacant
Steve Ellis
Neil Lewis
Adam Rattenbury
Anthony Redwood
Graham Pulling
Len Nokes
Ian Lanning
Alan Cross
Alex Armstrong
The under-18s team plays in Group B of the FA Premier Academy League. Players with squad numbers have appeared in or are part of the senior team but regularly return to play for the under-18 team.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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In 2011, Cardiff decided to create an under-21 team, which could take part in the planned nationwide Under-21 league which is planned to start for the 2012-13 season.[6] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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