Bournemouth Category One bid rejected due to pitch shortage

Bournemouth opened a new £32m training ground in March, complete with a 6,000 square-metre indoor dome, medical, fitness, sports science and rehabilitation facilities, offices and a press conference theatre on a 57-acre site at Canford Magna. This is used by the men’s and women’s teams and the Academy.

However, at the end of 2025/26 they were informed that their Cat 1 application had been unsuccessful – mainly because they do not have enough full-sized grass pitches for the Academy. Parents were subsequently notified. 

The club currently only have four full-sized grass pitches – three for the first team and one that is shared by the Under-21s and U18s for their home matches. At the time of the audit, there were also some issues around staffing, as the club did not have an Academy doctor, full-time psychologist or enough coaches with Advanced Youth Award / A Licences.

These are things that are regarded as being easy to rectify, whereas the situation with the grass pitches will take longer. There is a plan to open more pitches in the second phase of development, but no firm timeline on when.

Bournemouth are now going to appeal, as they believe other clubs have achieved status upgrades without having the full facilities in place at the time of audit. In fact, the Cherries themselves were promoted to Cat 2 status in the summer of 2023 despite their indoor dome not having been completed at the time.

An appeal would be heard by the Professional Game Board.

Premier League rules state that clubs must have “a sufficient number of grass pitches of the appropriate sizes” to achieve Cat 1 status. ‘Sufficient’ is not clearly defined but, in reality, Cat 1 Academies operate with at least five full-sized (11v11) grass pitches to meet audit standards.

The common benchmark is six full-sized grass pitches, plus a dedicated floodlit ‘show pitch’ and goalkeeper area.

Bournemouth Academy Manager Sam Gisborne spoke about the audit process in June 2025 and said: “We are in a good place and we are prepared but an audit is never easy. We will know the outcome at the end of the 2025/26 season in preparation for the 2026/27 season.”

The Cherries placed 49th in the latest edition of TGG’s Academy Productivity Rankings (for 2024/25), up from 51st the previous season.