The new hybrid Under-19 league, which gives late maturing players an extra year of development and also allows some overage players to feature, got underway earlier this week, with last year's Under-18 champions Hibernian beginning their campaign with a 3-0 victory over Kilmarnock on Monday.

The new league, which replaces the Under-18 category within Club Academy Scotland (CAS) sees matches played on Monday and Tuesday, offering minutes to young players who were in matchday squads for their first teams at the weekend.

Hearts were also victors in their first match in the Under-19 league, winning 4-2 at home to Motherwell, while St Mirren won 4-0 away to Dundee United to kick off their campaign. 

The calendar for the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) 2025/2026 season can be found here, with Elite / Performance schedules aligned from Under-11 to Under-15, allowing cross tier club programmes and alternative games to be arranged, out-with the Scottish FA CAS games programme.    

Fixtures and key dates are also available on the My Scottish Football (MSF) app, Comet and the newly-improved CAS Hub on the Scottish FA website. Details on how to download the app can be found here.

CAS rules and regulations, the CAS Support Portal - a platform providing support to clubs -and league tables, which will be updated in real time, can also be found on all the above platforms. 

As well as the change to the Under-19 league, the Under-16 league will also be replaced by an Under-17 league to compensate for this adjustment and to avoid a large age-group gap, with matches taking place on Friday evening. The Performance and Advanced Youth Under-17 programmes begin this evening, while the Performance category kicks off in two weeks, on Friday, 15 August - the same weekend that the Under-15 to Under-11 age group programmes all get back underway.

Across the full Club Academy Programme, all CAS Cup and CAS League Cup Competitions will begin after the Winter Break which will bring an exciting start to 2026 for the players and coaches of the Clubs.

Another notable change for the 2025/2026 season is the option for Elite Clubs to have one or two 9v9 Teams at the Under-12 and Under-13 age groups, giving clubs flexibility around managing resources and allowing for innovation within the Children's Academy Phase of the games programme. To see a modern graphic of the CAS Player Pathway Rules click here.

In an exciting cross tier SSG Festival Format, clubs can also now compete across a number of innovative formats, with more information on dates and host clubs found here.

The updated player pathway for 2025-26 is listed below:

  • Elite – U19, U17, U15, U14, U13, U12, U11
  • Performance – U19, U17, U15, U14, U13, U12, U11
  • Advanced Youth – U19, U17