2022–23 Professional U21 Development League

The 2022–23 Professional U21 Development League was the 11th season of the Professional Development League system.

The Premier League 2 reverted back to a U21 competition ahead of the 2022–23 season.^[1] Burnley, Birmingham City and Reading left the league after failing to retain category one academy status.^[2][3][4]

For the 2022–23 season onwards, player eligibility was restricted to under-21 players (reduced from under-23) born after 1 January 2001. To help with the transition, teams were allowed up to five over-age outfield players (up from three) and one over-age goalkeeper for the 2022-23 season.

Premier League 2

Season	2022–23
Champions	Manchester City U21s (3rd Title) Division 2 Southampton U21s (1st Title)
Promoted	Southampton U21s Leeds United U21s
Relegated	Tottenham Hotspur U21s Leicester City U21s
Matches played	295 (292 RS, 3 PO)
Goals scored	1,098 (3.72 per match) ( 1,089 RS, 9 PO)
Top goalscorer	Carlos Borges Manchester City U21s (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Southampton U21s 8–1 Middlesbrough U21s (30 October 2022)
Biggest away win	Leicester City U21s 0–7 Fulham U21s (10 October 2022)
Highest scoring	Sunderland U21s 5–7 Middlesbrough U21s (9 January 2023) Record
Longest winning run	4 Matches Manchester City U21s
Longest unbeaten run	11 Matches Manchester City U21s
Longest winless run	20 matches Entire season Derby County U21s
Longest losing run	12 matches Derby County U21s (5 August 2022-13 February 2023)
Highest attendance	12,546 Leeds United U21s 3–0 Nottingham Forest U21s (15 May 2023) Play-Off Final
Lowest attendance	30 Derby County U21s 0–2 Aston Villa U21s (29 October 2022)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Premier League 2

Division 1

As of match played 8 May 2023

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City U21s (C)	26	18	5	3	80	31	+49	59
2	Liverpool U21s	26	13	7	6	46	29	+17	46
3	Chelsea U21s	26	12	7	7	55	42	+13	43
4	Crystal Palace U21s	26	11	9	6	45	42	+3	42
5	Fulham U21s	26	11	8	7	50	39	+11	41
6	Brighton & Hove Albion U21s	26	11	6	9	58	49	+9	39
7	Arsenal U21s	26	8	10	8	39	40	−1	34
8	Everton U21s	26	9	5	12	39	51	−12	32
9	Manchester United U21s	26	6	12	8	46	64	−18	30
10	Blackburn Rovers U21s	26	9	2	15	42	52	−10	29
11	West Ham United U21s	26	8	4	14	39	49	−10	28
12	Wolverhampton Wanderers U21	26	8	4	14	39	50	−11	28
13	Tottenham Hotspur U21s (R)	26	6	10	10	34	46	−12	28
14	Leicester City U21s (R)	26	4	7	15	29	57	−28	19

Source: ^[5][6]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	BLA	BHA	CHE	CRY	EVE	FUL	LEI	LIV	MNC	MNU	TOT	WHU	WOL
Arsenal U21ss		4–1	3–3	4–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–3	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–1
Blackburn Rovers U21s	1–1		1–2	2–3	1–3	4–2	2–3	0–4	2–3	0–3	6–1	3–2	2–2	0–1
Brighton & Hove Albion U21s	2–2	4–2		2–2	2–4	1–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	3–2	3–2	4–0	3–2	3–1
Chelsea U21s	1–0	3–0	1–4		1–2	1–1	0–3	2–2	3–1	2–2	3–3	3–0	2–3	2–0
Crystal Palace U21s	2–0	0–3	3–2	3–3		3–4	1–2	0–0	0–1	0–5	0–0	3–0	3–3	2–1
Everton U21s	1–4	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–1		1–1	0–2	1–1	6–3	2–2	1–1	1–2	3–0
Fulham U21s	2–1	3–0	3–2	2–4	2–2	2–0		2–2	0–4	2–2	1–2	4–3	3–1	2–1
Leicester City U21s	1–2	0–1	1–4	0–2	1–1	1–4	0–7		0–1	0–0	3–2	2–2	3–1	0–1
Liverpool U21s	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–1	3–1	7–1		0–3	2–2	0–2	1–0	5–0
Manchester City U21s	6–0	1–3	2–1	3–1	3–3	5–0	1–0	3–1	3–1		6–0	0–0	4–1	4–3
Manchester United U21s	1–0	2–1	3–3	1–3	1–5	4–1	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–6		2–2	1–1	3–2
Tottenham Hotspur U21s	0–0	1–3	3–1	3–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	3–1	3–3	1–2	1–1		1–0	1–1
West Ham United U21s	2–3	1–3	3–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–3	1–5	2–3	1–0		3–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers U21s	2–0	0–1	2–0	1–7	5–0	5–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–3	2–2	4–1	0–5

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Division 2

As of match played 15 May 2023

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Southampton U21s (C, P)	20	13	3	4	54	28	+26	42
2	Leeds United U21s (P)	20	13	3	4	53	29	+24	42
3	Nottingham Forest U21s	20	13	2	5	44	28	+16	41
4	West Bromwich Albion U21s	20	11	4	5	47	35	+12	37
5	Aston Villa U21s	20	10	3	7	46	35	+11	33
6	Norwich City U21s	20	8	6	6	41	38	+3	30
7	Middlesbrough U21s	20	7	5	8	46	49	−3	26
8	Newcastle United U21s	20	6	5	9	35	41	−6	23
9	Sunderland U21s	20	5	5	10	37	44	−7	20
10	Stoke City U21s	20	3	5	12	26	45	−19	14
11	Derby County U21s	20	0	1	19	13	70	−57	1

Source: ^[7]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

Home \ Away	AST	DER	LEE	MID	NEW	NOR	NOT	SOU	STK	SUN	WBA
Aston Villa U21s		3–0	1–2	3–3	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	6–4	2–6
Derby County U21s	0–2		2–5	1–5	1–4	0–3	0–1	1–3	1–6	0–4	1–5
Leeds United U21s	2–1	3–0		3–1	4–2	2–2	5–1	6–2	4–0	3–1	1–2
Middlesbrough U21s	2–3	3–1	2–4		1–1	1–3	0–1	2–2	4–1	2–0	2–4
Newcastle United U21s	0–2	4–0	2–2	0–0		4–3	2–1	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–5
Norwich City U21s	1–3	2–1	5–2	2–2	4–2		0–3	2–5	3–0	3–2	1–1
Nottingham Forest U21s	4–3	7–2	1–0	1–4	3–1	4–1		1–3	4–1	1–0	0–0
Southampton U21s	2–0	3–0	1–2	8–1	4–1	1–1	0–2		2–0	2–2	4–1
Stoke City U21s	3–3	4–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–2	1–2	0–3		2–3	0–0
Sunderland U21s	0–4	1–1	0–1	5–7	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–3	4–1		3–3
West Bromwich Albion U21s	0–4	2–1	2–1	5–2	2–1	1–2	1–5	1–2	4–0	2–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

The date for semi-finals is confirmed as 8 May 2023 at 19:00.^[8][9]
The date for final is confirmed as 15 May 2023 at 19:00.^[10]

	Semi-finals					Final
	2	Leeds United U21s	2
	5	Aston Villa U21s	1
						Leeds United U21s		3
						Nottingham Forest U21s		0
	3	Nottingham Forest U21s	3
	4	West Bromwich Albion U21s	0

Semifinals

Leeds United U21s	2–1	Aston Villa U21s
Joseph 29' Perkins 43'	Report	Young 16'

8 May 2023

13:00

Elland Road, Beeston

Attendance: 3,709

Referee: Garreth Rhodes

---

Nottingham Forest U21s	3–0	West Bromwich Albion U21s
Konate 16' Hammond 29' Osong 38'	Report

8 May 2023

13:00

Impact Arena, Alfreton

Attendance: 177

Referee: Steven Copeland

Final

Leeds United U21s	3–0	Nottingham Forest U21s
Rutter 20' Chilokoa-Mullen 38' Moore 54'	Report

15 May 2023

13:00

Elland Road, Beeston

Attendance: 12,546

Referee: Edward Duckworth

Professional Development League

U21 Professional Development League

Season	2022–23
Champions	Millwall U21s (1st Title)
Matches played	283 (280 RS, 3 PO)
Goals scored	1,001 (3.54 per match) (987 RS, 14 PO)
Top goalscorer	Louie Marsh Sheffield United U21s (23 Goals)
Biggest home win	Swansea City U21s 10–1 Birmingham City U21s (10 May 2023)
Biggest away win	Burnley U21s 0–6 Hull City U21s (31 October 2022) Watford U21s 0–6 Colchester United U21s (1 November 2022)
Highest scoring	Swansea City U21s 10–1 Birmingham City U21s (10 May 2023)
Longest winning run	7 Matches Millwall U21s Sheffield United U21s
Longest unbeaten run	13 Matches Sheffield United U21s
Longest winless run	10 Matches Sheffield Wednesday U21s
Longest losing run	8 Matches Watford U21s
Highest attendance	2,076 Millwall U21s 2–1 Sheffield United U21s (22 May 2023)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The Professional Development League is Under-21 football's second tier, designed for those academies with Category 2 status. The league is split regionally into north and south divisions, with each team facing opponents in their own region twice both home and away and opponents in the other region once resulting in 28 games being played by both divisions. The sides finishing in the top two positions in both regions at the end of the season will progress to a knockout stage to determine the overall league champion. Coventry City U21s are the defending champions.

20 Teams competed in the league this season, 3 more than the previous season. Burnley U21s and Birmingham City U21s returned to the league after failing to retain Category One Academy status after 2 seasons for Burnley U21s, and 1 season for Birmingham City U21s. Reading U21s joined after temporarily dropping to Category Two status after 10 seasons in the Premier League 2.^[11][12][13]

Tables

North Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sheffield United U21s	28	18	6	4	59	30	+29	60	Qualification for Knock-out stage
2	Hull City U21s	28	13	3	12	60	48	+12	42
3	Wigan Athletic U21s	28	13	3	12	56	44	+12	42
4	Coventry City U21s	28	11	6	11	44	38	+6	39
5	Burnley U21s	28	11	5	12	45	57	−12	38
6	Peterborough United U21s	28	10	7	11	52	55	−3	37
7	Barnsley U21s	28	10	6	12	41	41	0	36
8	Crewe Alexandra U21s	28	8	7	13	35	56	−21	31
9	Birmingham City U21s	28	7	8	13	38	61	−23	29
10	Sheffield Wednesday U21s	28	5	4	19	22	55	−33	19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

South Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Millwall U21s	28	18	7	3	70	32	+38	61	Qualification for Knock-out stage
2	Bristol City U21s	28	16	5	7	47	26	+21	53
3	Swansea City U21s	28	16	4	8	80	46	+34	52
4	Cardiff City U21s	28	13	3	12	47	57	−10	42
5	Reading U21	28	12	5	11	44	40	+4	41
6	Ipswich Town U21s	28	11	6	11	60	61	−1	39
7	Queens Park Rangers U21s	28	10	8	10	54	52	+2	38
8	Charlton Athletic U21s	28	10	7	11	56	59	−3	37
9	Colchester United U21s	28	7	7	14	46	63	−17	28
10	Watford U21s	28	6	3	19	31	66	−35	21

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Knock-out stage

Semi-finals

Sheffield United U21s	4–0	Bristol City U21s
Marsh 9' Osula 42', 67', 71'	Report

15 May 2023

12:00

Brammall Lane, Sheffield

---

Millwall U21s	4–3	Hull City U21s
Esse 45+1', 90+5' Emakhu 73' Baker 101'	Report	Wood 8' Palit 14' Jarvis 49'

15 May 2023

14:00

The Den, Bermondsey

Professional Development League National Final

Millwall U21s	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Sheffield United U21s
Esse 11' Okoli 103'	Report 1 Report 2	Peck 64'

22 May 2023

19:00

The Den, Bermondsey

Attendance: 2,076

Referee: C Walchester

See also

• 2022–23 in English football