The FA Youth Cup is a competition which every young footballer aspires to play in, with fixtures featuring the likes of Bishops Cleeve FC and Bugmore St. Micheals youth sides facing the opportunity to face the country's brightest youth products. The 2018 tie between Manchester City and Clevedon Town was the very fairy tale that the competition looks to create, with the cityzens winning 4-0 en route to the final.
Some big names have played in the competition, names that have gone on to win football’s top trophies, so here are the past six captains to lift the trophy and what they have gone on to achieve since.
2020-21: Kaine Kesler - Swindon Town
Last season’s surprise package was the ever improving academy of Aston Villa, the four time winners beat their Liverpool counterparts 2-1 at Villa Park to lift the trophy. Captain Kaine Kesler was in the starting lineup for the FA Cup Third Round fixture against the MerseySide clubs senior side, losing by four goals to one but getting revenge in the final of the epitome of youth football in England. Kelser has one Premier League appearance to his name and is currently on loan at League Two side Swindon Town, playing ten times for the promotion contenders.
2019-20: Tommy Doyle - Hamburger SV
From a move to Swindon to a move to Germany, 2019-20 winning captain Tommy Doyle joined 2. Bundesliga Side Hamburger SV on loan from parent club Manchester City for the 2020-21 season. Doyle is one of a fresh batch of young English players to head abroad with the likes of Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Fikayo Tomori moving to mainland Europe. Doyle has represented England from under sixteen to under twenty-one level and will be looking to build on the seven Manchester City appearances to his name upon his return to the reigning Premier League champions.
2018-19: Paul Glatzel - Tranmere
The second on our list to be plying his trade in England’s fourth tier, Paul Glatzel is currently on loan at fellow Mersysiders Tranmere Rovers. The attacker has been capped at youth levels by England and later Germany and scored the winning penalty in the 2018-19 FA Youth Cup final’s penalty shootout win over Manchester City, which saw Tommy Doyle also convert. Teammates Neco Williams and Rhys Williams have gone on to feature in Jurgen Klopp's first team with Rhys making a loan move to Championship side Swansea City, two leagues above his captain’s current side.
2017-18: Reece James - Chelsea
The last of the two legged finals saw the likes of Billy Gilmour, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tariq Lamptey face off against Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka in a 7-1 aggregate scoreline for Chelsea. With 96 senior Chelsea appearances to his name and eight England caps, James is the first in the list to show his true class and go onto great things after lifting the FA Youth Cup. James lifted a league and cup double in 2017-18, winning the Academy Player of the Year and going on to win the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and featuring in the FA Cup Team of the Year in 2021.
2016-17: Mason Mount - Chelsea
It was a fourth FA Youth Cup win on the bounce for the London club, a run which saw them lift the trophy five times. A star studded lineup saw Mason Mount, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah take the pitch against Manchester City’s Brahim Diaz, Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden. A 6-2 aggregate win meant that Chelsea defeated the cityzens three times in as many seasons in the FA Youth Cup final. Mount went on to reach the Championship Play Off final under Chelsea legend and future manager Frank Lampard at Derby County before winning the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup alongside Reece James, playing 120 times for Chelsea and 26 times for England in the four years since his FA Youth Cup triumph.
2015-16 Charlie Colkett - Ostersund
Chelsea again, although this time with Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Dominic Solanke in the side. Captain Charlie Colkett made the switch to Swedish Allsvenskan side Ostersunds for a small fee in January of 2019. The 25 year old was sent on loan to Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town, Vitesse and Shrewsbury before deciding to call time on his Chelsea career and make the move away to the now Superettan side (the second tier in Sweden) for first team football. Colkett hasn’t gone on to have the career that some of his fellow captains, at Chelsea especially, have had but will without doubt treasure his winners’ medal no matter what.