Millwall U21

In the spring of 2023 Millwall's under-21s did something the first team had not managed in years: they finished a season as national champions to lift the Professional Development League National Final. It capped a campaign in which the group had already won the league's Southern Division outright.

The side trains under the same crest and the same nickname as the senior team, the Lions. Development football rarely draws attention on its own account, and Millwall's under-21s are no exception most weeks, but the National Final win was reported well beyond the usual academy circuit, with head of youth Kevin Nugent singled out for praise afterwards.

The point of a group like this is what it sends upstairs, and Millwall can point to that too: Scott Fitzgerald, Chris Parr, Billy Mitchell and Romain Esse all passed through this level before making the step up to senior football, Mitchell and Esse among the more recent graduates to catch the eye. The under-21s have not gone on to add the Premier League Cup to their collection, but the 2022–23 double of division and national title stands as the highest point yet reached by a Millwall side that never has to leave its own training ground to be judged.