The UEFA Youth League returns for 2025/26, with our under-19s side facing six league phase fixtures.

Our best previous run in the competition saw us reach the quarter-finals in the 2013/14 season, where we were beaten by eventual winners Barcelona.

We were eliminated in the league phase last season despite victories over Shakhtar Donetsk and Monaco. Barcelona won the competition for the third time, beating Trabzonspor 4-1 in the final.

The contenders are split into two paths, the UEFA Champions League path (involving all 36 clubs who are competing in the senior Champions League), and the Domestic Champions path. This path includes the domestic youth champions of all UEFA member associations; previously participation was limited to the top 32 associations of the ranking list.

If a club qualifies for both the Champions League path and the Domestic Champions path, they automatically participate in the Champions League path and the vacancy in the domestic path is, in principle, filled by the runners-up of the same association. In case the runners-up also qualify via the Champions League path, the vacancy is not filled.

The two paths come together for the knockout phase, running from a round of 32 in February, which will be played over one leg until the semi-final stage. The clubs ranked 1st-6th (Champions League path) will play against the clubs ranked 17th - 22nd. The clubs ranked 7th -16th will face the 10 clubs that qualify via the Domestic Champions path.