A younger version of the Champions League, the UEFA Youth League debuted in 2013. Since 2013, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has hosted this annual club football competition known as the UEFA Youth League. As it stands, the competition includes the young teams of each club participating in every year's group phase of the UEFA Champions League, together with the domestic youth winners of the top-ranked national associations.

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The tournament features 64 teams, with 32 qualifying through their senior clubs' participation in the Champions League and the last 32 made up of the junior domestic winners of the top 32 associations as per the UEFA's nation coefficient standings.

The Colovray Complex in Nyon, Switzerland, has historically hosted the semi-finals and finals. The Lennart Johansson Trophy, named after the previous UEFA president, is presented to the victors.

Barcelona and Chelsea have won two titles apiece, making them the most accomplished teams. Chelsea won consecutive titles in 2015 as well as 16, whereas Barcelona claimed the tournament's first season and added an additional trophy in 2018. Real Madrid, the reigning champions, defeated Benfica 3–2 in the final in 2020.

The usual competition format is outlined here.

Participants

The following 64 clubs are eligible to participate in the league:

  1. a) UEFA Champions League route - The 32 young teams from the clubs that qualified for the Champions League preliminary phase.
  2. b) Domestic Winners route - The domestic youth winners of the 32 best-ranked UEFA organisation coefficient rankings (the very same ratings used to determine eligibility for the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Winners League).

  • If a team qualifies for both, they go to the UEFA Champions League.

  • If a position is available in the UEFA Champions League pathway, the UEFA management will establish replacement requirements.

  • An opening in the domestic champions road (even when a club is qualified for the UEFA Champions League route alternatively) is, in theory, replaced by the domestic youth winner of the organisation that is the next highest in the league rankings.

Path to the UEFA Champions League

The 32 teams who qualify through the UEFA Champions League will be placed in groups with the same composition and schedule as the senior tournament. The top 8 teams from each group will advance through to the phase of 16, whereas the bottom eight teams will compete in the play-offs.

Path of the Domestic Champions

The 32 clubs will participate in 2 knockout stages of home-and-away matches to determine which 8 teams will advance to the play-offs.Play-offs

One-off matches between the 8 Domestic Champions route survivors and 8 UEFA Champions League route runners-up will be played at home to determine the 8 leftover round of 16 spots.

The knockout stage and the finals

Single-leg match-ups will be used in the knockout phase, beginning with the group of 16. This implies that each club will compete a max of 10 games. And the semi-finals and final take place at the Colovray arena in Nyon, Switzerland. No play-off  game for third-place takes place.

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