Birmingham City F.C. Reserves and Academy

Birmingham City F.C. Development Squad and Academy are the reserve team and the youth development system respectively of Birmingham City Football Club. The reserve team, established in 1879, played in the Premier Reserve League South in the 2009–10 season, but did not enter a league again until the 2012–13 season, when it was placed in the northern division of the newly formed Professional Development League 2, a predominantly under-21 league. The Academy, established in its current form in 1999, trains boys in age groups from under 9s through to under 18s.

Birmingham City have had a reserve team since 1879. They played friendly matches until gaining a place in the Birmingham & District League in 1893. In their third season they finished in runners-up spot, an achievement repeated in 1907 and 1921. In 1915 they were runaway winners of the league; in the 34-game season they scored 160 goals, of which Charlie Duncan scored 52. In 1921–22, following the reorganisation associated with the formation of the Third Division North, they joined the Central League, which now consisted of reserve teams of northern Football League clubs. In 1947–48 they lost their place to Barnsley, so joined the Football Combination, the equivalent reserve league for teams in the southern half of the country, rejoining an expanded Central League in 1982.

Since the 1999–2000 season, the league played in by the reserve team has depended on the league position of the club's first team. Relegation for the first team in 2006 meant the reserves dropped out of the Premier Reserve League into the Central League for 2006–07; they finished top of the Central Division of that League. Promotion back to the Premier League for the first team meant that for 2007–08 the reserves were placed in the Southern Division of the Premier Reserve League. Birmingham City fields its reserve team in the Birmingham Senior Cup, which it has won on twelve occasions, most recently in 2008 after a 5–0 win over Burton Albion.

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