Chelsea to rebrand youth teams under new head coach from 2026/27 season

Chelsea to rebrand youth teams under new head coach from 2026/27 season Chelsea have announced that their academy teams will be publicly known as ‘Cobham Next Gen’ from the 2026/27 season. The Blues are set to give their youth teams a new identity under head coach Harry Hudson, and it’s designed to better explain the role of the club’s leading academy group. Chelsea say the change reflects both the age profile of the players and the club’s long history of preparing young talent for senior football. The rebranding will not affect the official names used when Chelsea’s academy teams compete in Premier League, Football Association or UEFA competitions.  Those registrations will remain unchanged, but ‘Cobham Next Gen’ will become the identity used internally and across the club’s public communications. This comes after an impressive campaign for Chelsea’s young players. Their U21 team finished top of the Premier League 2 table last season, doing so with one of the youngest squads in the competition.  However, their title hopes ended when they were beaten by London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the play-off quarter-finals. Chelsea’s U18s also had a strong season. They topped their southern group before producing an outstanding performance in the play-off final, defeating Manchester City 5-1 to claim the title. The idea behind ‘Cobham Next Gen’ is similar to Man City’s decision to rename their reserve team the Elite Development Squad before the 2011/12 season.  That move was intended to highlight the team’s importance as a link between academy football and the senior side. Chelsea have also strengthened their academy structure in recent years.  Glenn van der Kraan joined the club from Man City as academy technical director in 2024 before being promoted to academy director last summer.  Hudson is now set to play a crucial role in the next stage of that development.  He joined Chelsea’s U18 coaching staff as assistant ahead of the 2025/26 season before taking charge of the U21s after Calum McFarlane moved into Liam Rosenior’s first-team coaching staff.