The competition retains its Swiss-style group stage – followed by a knockout tournament at the end of the initial season – but a revised fixture-generation process has been introduced after AFC Bournemouth and Brentford gained Category One status, expanding the league to 31 clubs.
While the Young Eagles will once again play 20 regular season matches, clubs have now been split into three tiers based on their average Premier League 2 finishing position over the past three seasons.
Each side will face between six and eight opponents from each tier, with every team playing 10 home and 10 away matches.
Should they finish in the top 16, Palace will then take part in play-offs to determine the overall Premier League 2 champions. Team’s finishing between 17th and 24th will instead enter a separate end-of-season competition alongside the top eight sides from the Professional Development League.
Last season, Palace secured a play-off place for a third consecutive campaign after finishing 10th in the regular-season standings. Darren Powell's side then defeated Liverpool on penalties in a dramatic round of 16 tie before bowing out to Manchester United in the quarter-finals – read our U21s’ 25/26 recap HERE!
Powell’s side will begin the new campaign with a London derby away at Arsenal on Saturday, 22nd August (KO: 13:00 BST) at Boreham Wood FC, before travelling to Aston Villa a week later (Friday, 28th August, 19:00 BST).
The U21s’ first home fixture of the season is scheduled for Saturday, 19th September (12:00 BST) against Blackburn Rovers, with the regular season concluding at home to Norwich City on Monday, 12th April (19:00 BST).
Palace will once again compete in the EFL Trophy this season, taking on the senior sides of Plymouth Argyle, Swindon Town and Newport County across September, October and November. The Young Eagles will also feature in the Premier League International Cup, with fixture details for that competition to be confirmed in due course.
Information regarding tickets, live streaming and further matchday details will also be confirmed in due course.
The full 2026/27 fixture list is detailed below.
Much like last season, a large portion of these games will be streamed LIVE on Palace TV+, with further details of the matches selected for broadcast to be confirmed in due course.
Our most popular subscription is an Annual Pass for Palace TV+ – giving you advance access to the best club videos and features, plus access to pre-season matches, select Academy live broadcasts, live audio commentary of Premier League matches, full 90-minute replays of every first-team match, and more for a whole year. Click HERE for more information on Palace TV+.