The 2019–20 UEFA Youth League was the seventh season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
Following the round of 16, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final tournament consisting of the semi-finals and final, originally scheduled to be played on 17 and 20 April 2020 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, were officially postponed on 18 March 2020. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the remaining matches, including two round of 16 matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, would be played between 16 and 25 August at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland behind closed doors.
Real Madrid defeated Benfica in the final 3–2 to win their first title. Porto were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg in the play-offs.
Teams A total of 64 teams from at least 32 of the 55 UEFA member associations could enter the tournament. They were split into two sections, each with 32 teams: UEFA Champions League Path: The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Champions League Path. If there was a vacancy (youth teams not entering), it was filled by a team defined by UEFA. Domestic Champions Path: The youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their 2018 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path. If there was a vacancy (associations with no youth domestic competition, as well as youth domestic champions already included in the UEFA Champions League path), it was first filled by the title holders should they have not yet qualified, and then by the youth domestic champions of the next association in the UEFA ranking.
For this season, 41 associations were represented, with Estonia being represented for the first time.
+Qualified teams for 2019–20 UEFA Youth LeagueRankAssociationTeamsUEFA Champions League PathDomestic Champions Path1Zaragoza 2Derby County 345Rennes 67BenficaPorto 8Shakhtar DonetskDynamo Kyiv 910Galatasaray 11Red Bull Salzburg 12Young Boys 13Slavia Prague 14Ajax 15OlympiacosPAOK 16Dinamo Zagreb 17Midtjylland 18Maccabi Petah Tikva 19APOEL 20Viitorul Constanța 21Korona Kielce 22IF Elfsborg 23Gabala 24Ludogorets Razgrad 25Red Star BelgradeBrodarac 26Rangers 27Minsk 28Astana 29Sogndal 30Domžale 32Slovan Bratislava 33Sheriff Tiraspol 34Shkëndija Tiranë 35ÍA 36MTK Budapest 37Shkëndija 38Honka 39Bohemians 40Zrinjski Mostar 41Liepāja 42FCI Levadia Notes
+Associations without any participating teams(no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League group stage, and either with no youth domestic competition or not ranked high enough for a vacancy)RankAssociation3143444546RankAssociation4748495051RankAssociation52535455
Squads Teams could name a squad of no more than forty players. A maximum of five players could be born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2000, with no more than three of these players in a matchday squad, while the remainder had to be born on or after 1 January 2001.
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise). For the UEFA Champions League Path group 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. For the play-offs, round of 16 and quarter-finals, in principle matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the matchdays as scheduled; however, matches could also be played on other dates, provided they were completed before the following dates: Play-offs: 13 February 2020 Round of 16: 6 March 2020 Quarter-finals: 20 March 2020
The competition was suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final tournament consisting of the semi-finals and final, originally scheduled to be played on 17 and 20 April 2020 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, wad officially postponed on 18 March 2020. A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season, with the final decision made at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 17 June 2020.
+Schedule for 2019–20 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathGroup stageMatchday 129 August 2019(Monaco)17–18 September 2019Matchday 21–2 October 2019Matchday 322–23 October 2019Matchday 45–6 November 2019Matchday 526–27 November 2019Matchday 610–11 December 2019Domestic Champions PathFirst round3 September 20192 October 201923 October 2019Second round6 November 201927 November 2019Knockout phaseKnockout round play-offs16 December 201911–12 February 2020Round of 1614 February 20203–4 March 202010 March 202016 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, NyonQuarter-finals18–19 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, NyonSemi-finals22 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, NyonFinal25 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon
UEFA Champions League Path
For the UEFA Champions League Path, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. There was no separate draw held, with the group compositions identical to the draw for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 29 August 2019, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners advanced to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path. The matchdays were 17–18 September, 1–2 October, 22–23 October, 5–6 November, 26–27 November, and 10–11 December 2019.
Tiebreakers
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Domestic Champions Path
For the Domestic Champions Path, the 32 teams were drawn into two rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties. The draw for both the first round and second round was held on 3 September 2019, 14:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. There were no seedings, but the 32 teams were split into groups defined by sporting and geographical criteria prior to the draw.
In both rounds, if the aggregate score was tied after full-time of the second leg, the away goals rule was used to decide the winner. If still tied, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played). The eight second round winners advanced to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path (group stage).
First round
Second round
Knockout phase
Bracket
Knockout round play-offs
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Top goalscorers There were 554 goals scored in 167 matches, for an average of goals per match.
RankPlayerTeamGoalsTotal1 Roberto Piccoli Atalanta6—28 Gonçalo Ramos Benfica2—63 Chukwubuike Adamu Red Bull Salzburg1—56 Troy Parrott Tottenham Hotspur6—— Luka Sučić Red Bull Salzburg4—26 Rayan Cherki Lyon4—15 Tiago Dantas Benfica3—2 Curtis Jones Liverpool5—0 Youri Regeer Ajax5—0 Morgan Whittaker Derby County—50
Notes
Notes
References
External links
UEFA Youth League Matches: 2019–20, UEFA.com