The competition system (II): Domestic Champions Path

This 3rd edition of the UEFA Youth League brings us a main new from the two past editions; the number of participants is going to increase from 32 to 64 teams.

In that way, this year aren't only going to participate the U19 teams of the clubs involved in the Champions League groups phase, but the Domestic Champions in U19 category from the 32 countries with more UEFA coefficient. In the case that one of that Domestic Champions has its senior team in the Champions League groups phase, its place is released for the champion of the next federation of the UEFA ranking, and so on. In this edition, FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympiacos, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Dinamo Zagreb have allowed that Kazakhstan, Finland, Bosnia, Georgia and Iceland have a team in the UEFA Youth League.

     Today's UEFA's federations classification


For example, an icelandic team can play UYL via UEFA Champions League Path, if their senior team classifies for the Champions League groups phase or via Domestic Champions Path, as they are good enough positioned in the UEFA's federations classification.

Applied to spanish football, Villarreal is playing the UYL as the champion of Copa de Campeones in the Domestic Champions Path while FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético, Valencia and Sevilla are playing the UYL in the UEFA Champions League Path.


The Domestic Champions Path includes 32 U19 national champions. These teams will play up to two knockout rounds already drawn in a home-and-away format and 8 teams will come out from this.

This 8 teams will play (as the away team) against the 8 2nd classified teams from the UEFA Champions League Path groups in a playoff with the objective of being in the Top 16 knockout. The champions of the UEFA Champions League Path groups will be the home teams in this round.

The next rounds of the competition where already explained in the post "The competition system (I): UEFA Champions League Path"

     On the next days are going to be played the first matches of the second round of the Domestic Champions Path. The 8 winners from this knockout will pass to the next knockout to enter to the Top 16 knockout.


You can follow the results and the details of the matches of the UYL Domestic Champions Path here: http://www.uefa.com/uefayouthleague/season=2016/matches/results/index.html



Source: Una UEFA Youth League mucho más amplia | MarcadorInt

The competition system (I): UEFA Champions League Path

The 3rd edition of the UEFA Youth League has brought us many news about the competition and its system. This news have a clear objective; continue the huge football expansion through europe powered by Platini since he is president of the top european football organ.

We are going to show and present the news and developments of this new UYL season in a future post, but first we will present the format that has been running since the beginning of the competition, 2 years ago.


The first stage is very simple, there are 8 groups (A-H) with 4 teams in each group. The distribution of the teams is exactly the same as it is in the Champions League. Basically, in this phase the youth squads of the Champions League teams compete in a same-structure competition. Each team has to play twice (home/away) against every team in its group.

    Comparison of groups A and B between Champions League (left) and Youth League (right) at the ending of the 3 game.

After the first stage, the 2nd classified of every group, will play against one of the teams classified via Domestic Champions Path in a single-leg knock-out. This match will be played in the field of the teams arrived from the Domestic Champions Path.

The teams that pass this round will play against the teams that classified 1st in the groups of the UEFA Champions League path. The eight group winners of the UEFA Champions League Path group stage and the eight winners of the play-offs contest the round of 16, for which the pairings are determined by means of a draw. This draw also determines which will be the home teams. This round will be also played in a single-leg knockout match.

The quarter finals will have the same structure as the previous round. The matches will be determined by draw as the home team will, and the round is played in a single-leg knock-out match.

The semifinal and the final will be played in a "Final 4" format, played as two semifinals and a final both played in the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland. There is not going to be a match for the 3rd and 4th place.


You can follow the results and the details of the matches of the UYL Champions League Route here: http://www.uefa.com/uefayouthleague/season=2016/standings/index.html