Chelsea rebrand 19/21s as Cobham Next Gen – and what it means

They add that the new title “also better fits the role of the squad within the Academy” and “recognises a group of young players with momentum, taking the next step in their development – the final one in the pathway to senior football”.

Chelsea’s Under-21s competed in Premier League 2 last season but the side had an average age nearer that of an Under-18s squad with several players aged 16 making regular appearances.

The age group names are still used for official competition registrations with the Premier League, Football Association and Uefa, but Chelsea will be using their new name for the first time this Friday for their opening Premier League 2 fixture of the new season away to Bournemouth Dev Squad.

The team will also play under the same name in this season’s EFL Trophy.

Chelsea are not the first club to rename their youth teams – Manchester City did it before the 2011/12 season, rebranding their sides as the Elite Development Squad, a name still used today.

Hudson leads Blues to title

Hudson joined Chelsea’s Academy last summer initially as Assistant Coach of the Under-18s, who were unbeaten in his first nine league matches.

He had a taste of working with the first team as part of the staff on the bench when Calum McFarlane took temporary charge in January and when McFarlane joined the first-team staff permanently at the end of that month, Hudson replaced him as Under-21s Head Coach.

Hudson enjoyed immediate success, with the side finishing top of the Premier League 2 table at the end of the regular season. After the title win was confirmed, he told Chelsea’s website: “Over the course of 20 games, it’s a thoroughly deserved achievement. When you factor in that we’ve had one of the youngest squads in the PL2, it makes it even more impressive.”

Hudson, and his coaching staff of James Simmonds and Andy Ross, also led the club’s Under-19s for the second half of last season when they competed in the Uefa Youth League.

Before joining Chelsea, Hudson, a Director and Co-Founder of the Kinetic Coaching in Sport charity, had a brief spell as the Under-15s/Under-16s Assistant in Brentford’s Academy at the start of the 2024/25 season and then moved to Wycombe in October 2024 to become their Professional Development Phase Under-18s Head Coach.

He has also managed the first teams at Sevenoaks, Whyteleafe and Croydon.

Blues keep topping TGG rankings

Chelsea’s Academy has been successful for many years in producing first-team players, with Academy graduates Reece James, the club captain, Levi Colwill and Josh Acheampong members of the current senior squad.

They have also topped our exclusive Training Ground Guru Academy Productivity Rankings for the past three seasons.

The rankings assess English Academies according to the number of graduates who made at least one appearance in the top five English divisions as well as in La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy) and Ligue 1 (France). Eighteen Chelsea graduates appeared in the Premier League and those four European equivalents in 2024/25, with six playing for the Blues’ first team.

The Rankings are the only publicly available resource of their kind in the UK and the latest edition will be published on TGG next month.