The 2025–26 UEFA Youth League was the twelfth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
The title holders were Barcelona, who defeated Trabzonspor 4–1 in the previous edition's final. They were eliminated in the round of 32 by Maccabi Haifa.
Real Madrid won their second title by beating Club Brugge 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the 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 2025–26 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 2025 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 Path1Aston Villa 2Fiorentina 3Real Betis 41. FC Köln 5Nantes 6AZ 7Porto 8Genk 9GalatasarayTrabzonspor 10Slavia PragueBaník Ostrava 11Hibernian 12Basel 13Austria Wien 14Bodø/GlimtBrann 15OlympiacosPAOK 16CopenhagenMidtjylland 17Maccabi Haifa 18Dynamo Kyiv 19Red Star Belgrade 20Lokomotiva Zagreb 21Legia Warsaw 23PafosAEK Larnaca 24Puskás Akadémia 25Brommapojkarna 26FCSB 27Ludogorets Razgrad 28QarabağSabah 29Žilina 30Bravo 322 Korriku33KairatOrdabasy 34HJK 35Shelbourne37Jelgava38Víkingur39Zrinjski Mostar 41KA42Larne43Racing Union44Be1 45Naxxar Lions46Dinamo Tbilisi47Skënderbeu48Narva Trans49Dinamo Minsk 50Rabotnichki51Inter Club d'Escaldes52Haverfordwest County53Budućnost Podgorica54Lincoln Red Imps
+Associations without any participating teams(no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League league phase, and either with no youth domestic competition)RankAssociation2231364055 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, Moldova, and San Marino) 30 youth champions from associations 1-32 (except Russia, and Moldova) 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 (Barcelona) 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 2025–26 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathMatchday 116–18 September 2025Matchday 230 September – 1 October 2025Matchday 321–22 October 2025Matchday 44–5 November 2025Matchday 525–26 November 2025Matchday 69–10 December 2025First round1 September 20251 October 202522 October 20255 November 2025Third roundRound of 323–4 February 2026Round of 16 6 February 202624–25 February 2026rowspan="3" 17–18 March 2026Semi-finals17 April 2026, Stade de la Tuilière, LausanneFinal20 April 2026, Stade de la Tuilière, Lausanne
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 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase. The top 22 teams advanced 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 were held on 1 September 2025.
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 was 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
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 12 December 2025.
The matches were played on 3 and 4 February 2026.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
See also Under-20 Intercontinental Cup 2025–26 UEFA Champions League
Notes
References
External links