The 2026–27 UEFA Youth League is the thirteenth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
The title holders are Real Madrid, who defeated Club Brugge 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the previous edition's final.
Teams A total of 86 teams from 50 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 2026–27 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 entered the Domestic Champions Path, with the exception of 5 teams. Clubs from the top 30 associations according to their 2026 UEFA country coefficients qualified for the second round, with the remaining 20 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.
+Qualified teams for 2025–26 UEFA Youth LeagueRankAssociationTeamsUEFA Champions League PathDomestic Champions Path1Chelsea 2Fiorentina 34TSG Hoffenheim 5Clermont 6AZ 7Benfica 8Club BruggeGenk 9Slavia PragueHradec Králové 10Göztepe 11Stabæk 12AEK AthensPAOK 13LASKRed Bull Salzburg 14Rangers 15Legia Warsaw 16Copenhagen 17Zürich 18Maccabi Tel Aviv 19Pafos 20Hammarby 21Dinamo Zagreb 22Red Star Belgrade 23Shakhtar DonetskDynamo Kyiv 24MTK Budapest 25Farul Constanța 27Slovan BratislavaŽilina 28Bravo 29Septemvri Sofia 30SabahQarabağ 31St Patrick's Athletic32Sheriff Tiraspol33Þór Akureyri34Zrinjski Mostar 36Super Nova37Ballkani38HJK 39Kairat 40HB41Valletta42Cliftonville43Žalgiris 45Flora46Partizani47Mladost Donja Gorica48UNA Strassen49Cardiff Met50Dinamo Tbilisi51AP Brera Strumica52Dinamo Minsk 53FC Santa Coloma54Lincoln Red Imps
+Associations without any participating teams(no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League league phase, and either with no youth domestic competition)RankAssociation26354455 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(50 teams)First round(20 teams) 20 youth champions from associations 33-54 (except Armenia, Liechtenstein and San Marino) 30 youth champions from associations 1-32 (except Spain and Russia) 10 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)
As the Youth League title holders (Real Madrid) qualified for Champions League Path via their senior side, the following changes to the default access list were made:
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 2026–27 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathMatchday 18–10 September 2026Matchday 213−14 October 2026Matchday 320–21 October 2026Matchday 43–4 November 2026Matchday 524–25 November 2026Matchday 68–9 December 2026First round1 September 20264 October 202628 October 20264 November 2026Third roundRound of 322–3 February 2027Round of 16 5 February 202723–24 February 2027rowspan="3" 16–17 March 2027Semi-finals16 April 2027Final19 April 2027
UEFA Champions League Path
For the UEFA Champions League Path, the 36 teams will play six matches (three home and three away) following the same schedule as the first six matchdays of the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase. The top 22 teams will advance to the knockout phase.
Table
Results
Domestic Champions Path
For the Domestic Champions Path, the 50 teams were drawn into three rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties, with the 30 clubs from the top ranked associations starting directly from the second round. The draw for all three rounds was held on 1 September 2026.
The ten third round winners will advance to the round of 32.
First round
Second round
Third round
See also Under-20 Intercontinental Cup 2026–27 UEFA Champions League
Notes
References
External links