Challenges ahead for Scottish Football’s Youth Development

The country’s failure to foster the growth of star-quality players in the generation following the likes of Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Ryan Christie and Andy Robertson, to name a few, is evident for all to see as the men’s team struggles in the Nation’s League, following a flameout in Euro 2024. That the women’s team also seems to be lagging behind competitor nations is similarly worth noting.

Meanwhile, in the Premiership, Wednesday’s top-of-the-table clash at Pittodrie featured one Scot in the starting XI for Celtic—McGregor—and just four for hosts Aberdeen.

Now, Scottish football’s youth development system faces questions of a different kind—with Thursday’s announcement that the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and the Scottish Professional Football League have been reported to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority for allegedly breaching the human rights of children.

Human Right’s Complaint

The complaint was filed by Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner and RealGrassroots, an advocacy organization, and accuses the country’s football governing bodies of exploiting children with harsh rules that restrict movement between club academies. 

According to the Children’s Commissioner, the rules result in the “economic exploitation of children, which breaches their human rights.”

The complaint is seeking to have several rules changed, including the cap on how many players a club can recruit from another and the setting of “implausibly high fees” that clubs have to pay to bring in a player from another academy. They also want the ban on players and their parents approaching other clubs about a move lifted.

These rules, the complainants allege, create an “anti-competitive, no-poach deal” in which clubs agree not to compete to recruit new players, meaning players are “held hostage” by clubs.

New Rules

“We have tried to work with the SFA over many years, and they have been consistently reluctant to resolve this,” Nick Hobbs, head of advice and investigations at the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, told STV. “They have made the odd concession but have persistently sought to kick the can down the road.” That “tracks,” as the kids say.

We can hear the responses being murmured throughout the sport now—that, without these restrictions, big clubs such as Celtic and Rangers would attract all of the best young players, due to their significant advantage in resources and prestige.

And that may be true. In fact, it may be the case even with the current rules in place. However, one advantage smaller clubs have, theoretically at least, is a clearer pathway to first-team football for more young players, given that Scotland’s bigger clubs are more likely (and have more money) to import foreign first-teamers.

Either way, the debate over these issues is hardly new, as it has gone on for more than a decade. Where it takes the sport in the future should be interesting.