Guide: The Youth System

The youth system is one of goalunited's most rewarding mid-game features. Once unlocked, it gives you a free pipeline of developing talent that can supplement or even replace your transfer market activity. Mastering it takes patience, but the payoff; a homegrown star with known attributes and low contract cost is among the best long-term investments in the game.

The youth system unlocks at career level 25. You also need to build the first Youth Building in your Stadium Complex before the Youth menu appears under Team.

Youth Team Structure

Your youth team has 22 fixed slots divided by position: 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, 5 wingers, and 5 strikers. You cannot change this distribution, and you cannot have more than 22 youth players at any time.

Youth players are aged 17–19 when they join. They automatically leave when they turn 20 (unless still under observation), and are released at 21 at the latest. The youth team plays in a parallel youth league following the same schedule as your first team; matches are held 24 hours before your senior fixtures.

Discovering Your Players — The 5 Observation Phases

When a player joins the youth team, you know almost nothing about them except their position. Uncovering their full profile requires observation — actively monitoring them across match days. Each phase reveals more:

You can promote a player after Phase 4 (11 match days). Phase 5 is optional but worthwhile for players you intend to keep; a fully trained talent slot from the start saves significant time later.

If you activate the Talent Plus building upgrade, Phase 1 automatically reveals the talent and opens a fully trained first talent slot. This saves 3 observation match days and removes the need for talent training entirely for that slot.

Scouting — Finding Better Players

Once a day, you can dismiss one youth player to make room for a replacement. Before accepting whoever joins automatically, you can use a Scout card to preview up to three candidates and choose the best one for that position slot.

Scouting reveals average strength but does not skip the observation phases. You still need to run through all phases to uncover individual skills and talents; scouting only helps you decide which player is worth observing in the first place.

The younger the scouted player, the better. A 17-year-old with strength 2.0 has more time to train and develop than a 19-year-old with the same strength and will end up worth significantly more by the time you sell.

Reading Youth Match Ratings

After each youth league match, the Ratings tab shows how your players performed using a 1–5 star system. The four best players on the pitch receive 5 stars; the next four receive 4, and so on.

Ratings are relative; a player rated 5 stars against a strong opponent tells you more about their potential than 5 stars against a weak one. Look for players who consistently earn high ratings across multiple matches, especially in games against stronger youth sides. This consistency reveals the ceiling better than any single match rating.

Compare players of the same position against each other over 4–6 matches. A player who is always in the top 4 on the field is almost certainly one of your better prospects. One who consistently rates 2–3 stars may be below par for your development pipeline.

Youth Training

Your Youth Coach provides balanced training to all players automatically. Beyond that, each observation slot allows you to assign individual training units; the more slots you have active, the more you can concentrate development on specific players.

Concentrate all 3 individual training units on your most promising player rather than spreading them thinly. A concentrated development focus produces a stronger promotion candidate faster.

Promoting a Youth Player

Once Phase 4 is complete, click the player's detail screen and use the 'To Professional Team' button. The promoted player arrives with:

• An automatic 18-week contract.

• A salary calculated as: Strength × €1,000/week — significantly lower than market equivalent.

• Their morale set randomly in the Okay or Good range (48–89).

Top Youth Players, Gold Youth Players, and Wonderkid players have a sales value of €1 for their entire first contract. Extending their first contract does not reset this timer; the low-value period only ends when their first contract fully expires. Plan contract timing carefully before investing talent cards in these players.

Special Youth Buildings

Several building upgrades enhance the youth system significantly:

• Youth Turf (Common) unlocks a 4th observation slot.

• Youth Hub special buildings (up to 5) → each adds +1 squad slot for one position, and owning all 5 lets you reveal a skill after each youth match.

• Talent Plus upgrade reveals talent at Phase 1 with a fully trained first slot.

• Change Talent Plus (Common/Rare) lets you reroll a youth player's talent once each.

• Change Personality Plus lets you reroll a youth player's personality once.

• Youth Academy upgrades allow more flexible formations for the youth team.

• Assistant Youth Coach (staff upgrade) gives your youth players a 10% training bonus