Cardiff City U21

The nearest the youth setup has come to a national trophy remains the FA Youth Cup final of 1971, lost to Arsenal. Nothing since has matched it: neither the Professional Development League nor the Premier League Cup has been won, and the modern side's record is measured instead in the players it has passed upstairs.

The team in its present form dates from 2011, when the academy was rebuilt around the newly formed development league. It spent six seasons from 2016/17 as an Under-23 side before reverting to Under-21 in 2022 — the age brackets have moved more often than the purpose behind them has.

He made his first-team debut in 2007 and left for Arsenal the following year. More recently Rubin Colwill has come through the same route.

Home matches are played at Cardiff City Stadium, on the Leckwith site. The blue shirts and white shorts are the parent club's, as is the name it carries in Welsh, Yr Adar Gleision.

Two derbies shape the calendar.