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Arsenal Academy
Full name	Arsenal Football Club Academy
Nickname(s)	The Gunners
Founded	1954
Ground	Arsenal FC Training Centre, Shenley; (Capacity: nil)
Chairman	Peter Hill-Wood
Head Coach	Steve Bould
League	FA Premier Academy League
2008–09	FAPAL Group A, 1st (Champions)

Arsenal Football Club Academy are the youth team of Arsenal Football Club. They currently play in the FA Premier Academy League, the highest level of youth football in England. The club enter Under-18 and Under-16 teams in the League, but they operate the academy for boys from the age of nine upwards.

Some of the senior members of the U18 team also play for Arsenal Reserves, and the team are currently coached by former Arsenal defender Steve Bould, while the younger teams are coached by Roy Massey and Steve Gatting. Former Arsenal midfielder and Republic of Ireland international Liam Brady oversees the overall youth development setup at the club with his assistant David Court.

[edit] History

[edit] Arsenal Youth (1954–1998)

Arsenal have occasionally operated a youth team as far back as 1893–94, and there had been an established third team (known as Arsenal 'A') for young players from 1929 to 1969.

In 1954, Arsenal started their own formal youth team. They entered the South Eastern Counties League (re-named the South East Counties League the following season) and the associated South East Counties League Cup from 1954–55 to 1997–98 (excluding 1967–68 and 1968–69). Arsenal Youth also played in the London Minor FA Challenge Cup (from 1954–55 to 1955–56 and 1959–60 to 1966–67) and the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup (from 1955–56 to 1971–72 and 1974–75 to 1998–99). The club have played in the FA Youth Cup since 1954–55.

During this time, Arsenal were one of the most successful youth teams in the country — winning seven South East Counties League titles, six South East Counties League Cups (including three "doubles") and four FA Youth Cups.

[edit] Arsenal Academy (1998–present)

The youth team became founder members of the FA Premier Youth League in 1997–98. The league was initially a single division and Arsenal won the inaugural title. The following season this was renamed the Premier Academy League and split into Under-19 and Under-17 sections, with the new FA Academy system formally changing Arsenal's youth team to Academy status. Arsenal entered teams in both sections, winning the U17 title in 1999–00 and the U19 title in 2001–02 as well as two more FA Youth Cups.

Since 2004–05, the FA Premier Academy League has consisted of only a single section for Under-18s, although an Under-16 section is played with no league table being recorded. Arsenal U18s have twice won their division group (Group A), in 2007–08 and 2008–09, and went on to win the academy play-off semi-final and final in 2008–09 to become FA Premier Academy League champions. Their most recent success is winning the 2008–09 FA Youth Cup, having beaten Liverpool 6–2 on aggregate in the final.

[edit] Current squad

[edit] U18 League

The following list contains players who are eligible for the U18 Academy League in the 2009–10 season.^[1]

No.		Position	Player
		GK	James Shea*
		GK	Sean McDermott
		GK	James Dunn
		DF	Rhema Obed
		DF	Luke Ayling
		DF	Ignasi Miquel
		DF	Daniel Boateng
		DF	Sead Hajrović
		DF	Nico Yennaris
		DF	Cedric Evina (captain)

No.		Position	Player
		DF	George Brislen-Hall
		MF	Emmanuel Frimpong
		MF	Chukwuemeka Aneke
		MF	Sam Byles
		MF	Conor Henderson*
		MF	Oğuzhan Özyakup
		MF	Jernade Meade
		FW	Luke Freeman
		FW	Benik Afobe
		FW	Roarie Deacon

* – Players who were born in England but have chosen to represent the country of their parents' or grandparents' origin

[edit] Schoolboys

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Luke Chambers*
		GK	Reice Charles-Cook
		GK	Yilmaz Aksoy*
		DF	Ben Glasgow*
		DF	Jordan Wynter
		DF	Martin Angha
		DF	Joe Jones
		DF	Alie Sesay
		DF	Elton Monteiro
		DF	James Campbell
		MF	Jamie Edge