Several players who progressed through the academy in the first five years went on to play for the senior side and represent Wales at international level, such as Joe Ledley, Darcy Blake, Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey.

Former Cardiff player Neal Ardley spent five years in charge of the academy before departing in 2012, witnessing the construction of the House of Sport training complex.

In 2020, the club announced plans to upgrade the academy to category one status, the highest possible rating available, and appointed Steve Morison as manager of the under-23 side.

In the post-war era, Cardiff City had developed players using local feeder clubs in a network established under the management of Cyril Spiers.

[1] Spiers resigned from the club before the end of the war over a dispute with the board but his work reaped rewards for his replacement Billy McCandless.

The most prominent of these, such as Nathan Blake, Damon Searle and Jason Perry, were known in the media as "the darling buds of Eddie May" in reference to the club's manager.

[4] By the late 1990s, Cardiff chairman Steve Borley led an investment in the club's youth system along with manager Frank Burrows.

The move was in direct response to several Cardiff-born players, including future Welsh internationals Craig Bellamy, Mark Pembridge, Gareth Bale and David Cotterill, leaving the area to sign for more sophisticated youth programmes.

This coincided with the youth team using the improved training facilities at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel and the announcement of a new sponsorship deal for the academy with Brace's Bakery.

[8] The club's youth system, ranging from 7- to 18-year-olds,[6] was granted academy status in 2004, with the first match under the new designation being an under-18s fixture against Everton in August of that year.

[7] In 2010, the Academy moved into the newly built Cardiff City House of Sport (HOS), an indoor football centre and multi-sport venue.

[20] At the start of the 2012–13 season, a new academy tier system was introduced in English football with clubs judged on the quality of facilities and the support they provide.

[27] Cardiff received compensation, believed to be around £500,000,[28] for Matondo who was sold by Manchester City to FC Schalke 04 for around £10 million without appearing for the senior side.

Soon after, the club announced plans to upgrade the academy to a category one facility in the hope of increasing the number of players impacting on the senior side.

Cian Ashford Joel Bagan[39] Darcy Blake[40] Sam Bowen[39] Jonathan Brown[41] Joel Colwill Rubin Colwill[39] Raheem Conte Isaak Davies Tom Davies Oliver Denham Alex Evans[42] Kieron Evans[39] Ibrahim Farah[43] Luey Giles[44] Chris Gunter[45] Mark Harris[46] Joe Jacobson[47] Tom James[48] Nathaniel Jarvis[49] Declan John[50] Eli King Ronan Kpakio[51] Joe Ledley[52] Josh Magennis[53] Adam Matthews[54] Curtis McDonald[55] Aaron Morris[56] Ben Nugent[57] Deji Oshilaja[58] Tommy O'Sullivan[59] Daniel Parslow[60] Luke Pearce[61] Joe Ralls[62] Aaron Ramsey[63] Michael Reindorf[64] Kevin Sainte-Luce[65] Tom Sang[66] Jai Semenyo Theo Wharton[67] James Waite[68] Aaron Wildig[69] Chanka Zimba[70] The following players have gone on to play senior professional football after having left or been released by the academy.

Ash Baker[71] Wes Burns[72] Aaron Amadi-Holloway[73] Charlie Crew[74] Andrew Hughes[75] Tom Lockyer[76] Rabbi Matondo[27] Jonathan Meades[77] Rollin Menayese[78] Regan Poole [79] Dave Richards[80] Jordan Santiago[81] Macauley Southam-Hales[82] Siôn Spence[83] Ben Swallow[84] David Tutonda[85] Josh Yorwerth[86] Those in bold have been capped at full international level.