The 2022–23 UEFA Youth League was the ninth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
The title holders were Benfica, who defeated FC Salzburg 6–0 in the previous season's final. Benfica were eliminated in the group stage, while AZ won their first European title by beating Hajduk Split 5–0 in the final. They became the first Dutch club since Feyenoord in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup to win a European title.
Teams A total of 64 teams from 39 of the 55 UEFA member associations entered 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 2022–23 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 2022 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.
Apolonia, Ashdod, Borac Banja Luka, Coleraine, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hibernian, Jelgava, Nantes, Omonia, Pobeda, Pyunik, Racing Union, Rukh Lviv, Shamrock Rovers, Trenčín and Zagłębie Lubin made their tournament debuts. Armenia and Northern Ireland were represented for the first time.
+Qualified teams for 2022–23 UEFA Youth LeagueRankAssociationTeamsUEFA Champions League PathDomestic Champions Path12345Nantes 67AjaxAZ 9Club BruggeGenk 10FC Salzburg 11Hibernian 12Shakhtar DonetskRukh Lviv 13Galatasaray 14Copenhagen 15Omonia 16Red Star Belgrade 17Viktoria PlzeňSlavia Prague 18Dinamo ZagrebHajduk Split 19Young Boys 20Panathinaikos 21Maccabi HaifaAshdod 22Molde 23AIK 24Slavia Sofia 25Csíkszereda 26Gabala 27Astana 28MTK Budapest 30Zagłębie Lubin 31Domžale 32Trenčín 34Žalgiris 35Racing Union 36Borac Banja Luka 37Shamrock Rovers 38Pobeda 39Pyunik 40Jelgava 41Apolonia 42Coleraine +Associations without any participating teams(no teams qualify for UEFA Champions League group stage, and either with no youth domestic competition or not ranked high enough for a vacancy)RankAssociation82933434445RankAssociation4647484950RankAssociation5152535455 Notes
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.
+Schedule for 2022–23 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathGroup stageMatchday 125 August 20226–7 September 2022Matchday 213–14 September 2022Matchday 34–5 October 2022Matchday 411–12 October 2022Matchday 525–26 October 2022Matchday 61–2 November 2022Domestic Champions PathFirst round31 August 202214 September 20225 October 2022Second round26 October 20222 November 2022Knockout phaseKnockout round play-offs8 November 20227–8 February 2023Round of 1613 February 202328 February 2023 & 1 MarchQuarter-finals14–15 March 2023Semi-finals21 April 2023 at Stade de Genève, GenevaFinal24 April 2023 at Stade de Genève, Geneva
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 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 25 August 2022, 18:00 CEST (19:00 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.
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 would be joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path.
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 31 August 2022.
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
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Bilal Mazhar Panathinaikos9 Mexx Meerdink AZ3 Ilyes Housni Paris Saint-Germain8 Adrián Niño Atlético Madrid Ernest Poku AZ6 Víctor Barberà Barcelona7 Oakley Cannonier Liverpool8 Ismaël Gharbi Paris Saint-Germain6 Karim Konaté FC Salzburg Rodrigo Ribeiro Sporting CP
References
External links