Overview English professional football has over recent years made considerable investment into elite talent pathways. Clubs and other entities running elite talent programmes for young players must comply with advanced and evolving regulatory frameworks. These frameworks have been developed to deliver on English football''s shared mission of developing more and better homegrown players, and compliance with them is a condition of receiving central funding to support elite youth development. On the boys'' side and as part of the Elite Player Performance Plan - the Professional Game''s national strategy for developing male youth footballers in England - professional club Academies are licensed and placed into one of four categories (Category 1 to 4). These categories are based on a combination of factors, including investment levels, facilities, staffing, and the quality of provision across key multidisciplinary areas. We are currently reviewing the audit and assessment framework used on the boys'' side. On the girls'' side, the female talent pathway aims to support the development of more and better home-grown players through two key programmes , with around 60 licensed Emerging Talent Centres for girls aged eight to 16 and 20 licensed Professional Game Academies delivering training and development to girls aged 14 to 21. It is likely that, as the girls'' game continues to grow, the licensing requirements for both Emerging Talent Centres and Professional Game Academies - togeth