The 2024–25 UEFA Youth League was the eleventh season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
The title holders were Olympiacos, who defeated Milan 3–0 in the previous edition's final. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Red Bull Salzburg.
Barcelona claimed a record-breaking third title by defeating Trabzonspor 4–1 in the final.
Teams A total of 88 teams from 52 of the 55 UEFA member associations entered the tournament. They were split into two sections.
UEFA Champions League Path: The youth teams of the 36 clubs which qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League league phase entered the UEFA Champions League Path. If there had been a vacancy (youth teams not entering), it would have been filled by a team defined by UEFA. Domestic Champions Path: The youth domestic champions of all UEFA associations (with the exception of Liechtenstein and San Marino, who do not have a youth domestic competition, and Russia, who was suspended from UEFA competitions) entered the Domestic Champions Path. Clubs from the top 28 associations according to their 2024 UEFA country coefficients qualified for the second round, with the remaining 24 teams starting from the first round. If the youth domestic champions qualify for the UEFA Champions League path, their spot was filled by the youth domestic runners-ups; if the runners-ups also qualify for the UEFA Champions League path, the vacancy was not filled (a change from previous editions where only the winners were taken into consideration).
Aberdeen, Academia Rebeja, Aston Villa, Auxerre, Bologna, Brera Strumica, Brest, Budućnost Podgorica, Bylis, Cliftonville, CSKA Sofia, FC 2 Korriku, FC Santa Coloma, Girona, HB, IFK Göteborg, IMT, Lincoln Red Imps, Progrès Niederkorn, Rapid Wien, Real Betis, Sabah, Sassuolo, Strømsgodset, Sturm Graz, Stuttgart, Tallinna Kalev, The New Saints, Valletta and Zbrojovka Brno made their tournament debuts.
+Qualified teams for 2024–25 UEFA Youth LeagueRankAssociationTeamsUEFA Champions League PathDomestic Champions Path1Manchester United 2Real Betis 3TSG Hoffenheim 4Sassuolo 5Auxerre 6AZ 7Braga 8Club BruggeGenk 9CelticAberdeen 10Rapid Wien 11Red Star BelgradeIMT 12Trabzonspor 13Young BoysBasel 14Shakhtar DonetskDynamo Kyiv 15Sparta PragueZbrojovka Brno 16Strømsgodset 17Midtjylland 19Dinamo ZagrebLokomotiva Zagreb 20Olympiacos 21Maccabi Petah Tikva 22Pafos 23IFK Göteborg 24Legia Warsaw 25Puskás Akadémia 26Farul Constanța 27CSKA Sofia 28Slovan BratislavaTrenčín 29Sabah 30Kairat 31Maribor 32Academia Rebeja 332 Korriku35Daugavpils36UCD37Honka 38Žalgiris 39Pyunik40Dinamo Minsk 41Sarajevo 42Progrès Niederkorn43HB44Cliftonville45Valletta46Dinamo Tbilisi47Tallinna Kalev48Stjarnan49Bylis50The New Saints51Lincoln Red Imps52AP Brera Strumica53FC Santa Coloma54
+Associations without any participating teams(no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League league phase, and either with no youth domestic competition)RankAssociation183455 Notes
Distribution PathRoundTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundLeague phase(36 teams) 36 youth teams whose senior sides qualified for the Champions League league phaseDomestic Champions Path(52 teams)First round(24 teams) 24 youth champions from associations 30–55 (except Liechtenstein and San Marino) 28 youth champions from associations 1–29 (except Russia) 12 winners from the first roundThird round(20 teams) 20 winners from the second roundKnockout phase(32 teams) 22 teams ranked 1–22 from the league phase (UEFA Champions League Path) 10 winners from the third round (Domestic Champions Path)
The information here reflects the suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions of associations 25 (Hungary) and 26 (Romania) entered the second round instead of the first round (Domestic Champions Path).
As the Youth League title holders (Olympiacos) qualified for the second round (Domestic Champions Path) via their domestic league, the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions of associations 27 (Bulgaria) and 28 (Slovakia) entered the second round instead of the first round (Domestic Champions Path).
As San Marino did not enter a team, the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions of associations 29 (Azerbaijan) entered the second round instead of the first round (Domestic Champions Path).
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows.
For the UEFA Champions League Path league stage, in principle the teams played their matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the matchdays as scheduled for UEFA Champions League, and on the same day as the corresponding senior teams; however, matches could also be played on other dates, including Mondays and Thursdays. For the Domestic Champions Path first and second rounds, in principle matches were played on Wednesdays (first round on matchdays 2 and 3, second round on matchdays 4 and 5, as scheduled for UEFA Champions League); however, matches could also be played on other dates, including Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
+Schedule for 2024–25 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathMatchday 117–19 September 2024Matchday 21–2 October 2024Matchday 322–23 October 2024Matchday 45–6 November 2024Matchday 526–27 November 2024Matchday 610–11 December 2024First round3 September 20242 October 202423 October 20246 November 2024Third roundRound of 3211–12 February 2025Round of 1614 February 20254–5 March 20251–2 April 2025Semi-finals25 April 2025 Final28 April 2025 Colovray Stadium, Nyon
UEFA Champions League Path
For the UEFA Champions League Path, the 36 teams played six matches (three home and three away) following the same schedule as the first six matchdays of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League league phase. The top 22 teams advanced to knockout phase.
Table
Results
Domestic Champions Path
For the Domestic Champions Path, the 52 teams were drawn into three rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties, with the 28 clubs from the top ranked associations starting directly from the second round. The draw for all three rounds were held on 3 September 2024.
The ten third round winners advanced to the round of 32.
First round
Second round
Third round
Knockout phase
The top 22 teams from the UEFA Champions League Path as well as 10 winners of the Domestic Champions Path qualified for the knockout phase, which were played in a single-leg knockout format. For the round of 32, the top six teams from the UEFA Champions League Path were paired against the teams finished in 17th to 22nd place, and the Domestic Champions Path winners were paired against teams ranked 7th to 16th.
Bracket
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMatches played1 Phillip Verhounig Red Bull Salzburg87 Mahamadou Sangaré Paris Saint-Germain6 Matviy Ponomarenko Dynamo Kyiv54 Omar Janneh Atlético Madrid68 Gustavo Varela Benfica7 Daniel Cummings Celtic Romualdas Jansonas Žalgiris4 Poyraz Efe Yıldırım Trabzonspor39 Arnau Pradas Barcelona511 Hugo Alba Barcelona10 Gabriel Silva Sporting CP8 Stavros Pnevmonidis Olympiacos7 Candas Fiogbé Atalanta6 Eliot Bujupi VfB Stuttgart Leon Grgic Sturm Graz Kevin Mondovics Puskás Akadémia5 Nicolaj Tornvig Midtjylland
See also Under-20 Intercontinental Cup 2024–25 UEFA Champions League
References
External links