2022–23 UEFA Youth League

The 2022–23 UEFA Youth League was the ninth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.

Dates6 September 2022 – 24 April 2023

Teams64 (from 39 associations)

Champions

AZ (1st title)

Runners-up

Hajduk Split

Quick facts Tournament details, Dates ...

2022–23 UEFA Youth League
Tournament details
The Stade de Genève in Geneva hosted the semi-finals and final
Dates	6 September 2022 – 24 April 2023
Teams	64 (from 39 associations)
Final positions
Champions	AZ (1st title)
Runners-up	Hajduk Split
Tournament statistics
Matches played	167
Goals scored	575 (3.44 per match)
Attendance	177,367 (1,062 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Bilal Mazhar (Panathinaikos) Mexx Meerdink (AZ) 9 goals each
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

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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.^[1]

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Qualified teams for 2022–23 UEFA Youth League^[1]
Rank	Association	Teams
Rank	Association	UEFA Champions League Path	Domestic Champions Path
1	England	Manchester City^[YC] (2021–22 U18 Premier League)^[2] Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur
2	Spain	Real Madrid Barcelona^[YC] (2021–22 División de Honor Juvenil U-19)^[3] Atlético Madrid Sevilla
3	Italy	Milan Inter Milan^[YC] (2021–22 Campionato Primavera 1)^[4] Napoli Juventus
4	Germany	Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund^[YC] (2021–22 A-Junioren-Bundesliga)^[5] Bayer Leverkusen RB Leipzig Eintracht Frankfurt
5	France	Paris Saint-Germain Marseille	Nantes (2021–22 Championnat National U19)
6	Portugal	Porto Sporting CP Benfica^[TH]^[PO]^[YC] (2021–22 Campeonato Nacional Juniores S19)
7	Netherlands	Ajax	AZ (2021–22 Eredivisie U18)
9	Belgium	Club Brugge	Genk (2021–22 Belgian U18 League)
10	Austria	FC Salzburg^[YC] (2021–22 Jugendliga U18)^[6]
11	Scotland	Celtic Rangers^[PO]	Hibernian (2021–22 Scottish U18 League)
12	Ukraine	Shakhtar Donetsk^{[Note UKR]}	Rukh Lviv^{[Note UKR]} (2021–22 Ukrainian Premier League Youth)
13	Turkey		Galatasaray (2021–22 U19 Elite)
14	Denmark	Copenhagen^[PO]^[YC] (2021–22 U19 Ligaen)
15	Cyprus		Omonia (2021–22 Cypriot U19 League)
16	Serbia		Red Star Belgrade (2021–22 Serbian U19 League)
17	Czech Republic	Viktoria Plzeň^[PO]	Slavia Prague (2021–22 Czech U19 League)
18	Croatia	Dinamo Zagreb^[PO]	Hajduk Split (2021–22 1. HNL Juniori U19)
19	Switzerland		Young Boys (2021–22 Swiss U18 League)
20	Greece		Panathinaikos (2021–22 Superleague K19)
21	Israel	Maccabi Haifa^[PO]	Ashdod (2021–22 Israeli U19 Noar Premier League)
22	Norway		Molde (2021 Norwegian U19 Cup)
23	Sweden		AIK (2021 P17 Allsvenskan)
24	Bulgaria		Slavia Sofia (2021–22 U18 BFU Cup)
25	Romania		Csíkszereda (2021–22 Liga Elitelor U19)
26	Azerbaijan		Gabala (2021–22 Azerbaijani U19 League)
27	Kazakhstan		Astana^{[Note KAZ]} (2021 Kazakhstani U17 League)
28	Hungary		MTK Budapest (2021–22 Hungarian U19 League)
30	Poland		Zagłębie Lubin (2021–22 Polish U18 Central Junior League)
31	Slovenia		Domžale (2021–22 Slovenian U19 League)
32	Slovakia		Trenčín (2021–22 Slovak U19 League)
34	Lithuania		Žalgiris^[V-RUS] (2021 Lithuanian Elite Youth League U19 Division)
35	Luxembourg		Racing Union^[V-BLR] (2021–22 Luxembourg U19 Junior Championship)
36	Bosnia and Herzegovina		Borac Banja Luka^[V-YC] (2021–22 Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 Junior League)
37	Republic of Ireland		Shamrock Rovers^[V-YC] (2021 League of Ireland U19 Division)
38	North Macedonia		Pobeda^[V-YC] (2021–22 Macedonian U19 League)
39	Armenia		Pyunik^[V-YC] (2021 Armenian U18 League)
40	Latvia		Jelgava^[V-YC] (2021 Latvian U18 League)
41	Albania		Apolonia^[V-PO] (2021–22 Albanian U19 League)
42	Northern Ireland		Coleraine^[V-PO] (2021–22 Northern Ireland Academy League U18)

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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)

Rank	Association
8	Russia^{[Note RUS]}
29	Belarus
33	Liechtenstein
43	Georgia
44	Finland
45	Moldova

Rank	Association
46	Malta
47	Faroe Islands
48	Kosovo
49	Gibraltar
50	Montenegro

Rank	Association
51	Wales
52	Iceland
53	Estonia
54	Andorra
55	San Marino

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Notes

^TH Title holders.
^YC Teams playing in the UEFA Champions League Path which were also youth domestic champions.
^PO Teams playing in the UEFA Champions League Path after their senior team qualified for the Champions League group stage via play-offs.
^V-RUS Team playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancy of Russia (excluded from UEFA competitions).
^V-BLR Team playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancy of Belarus.
^V-YC Teams playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancies of teams which qualified for the Champions League group stage automatically.
^V-PO Teams playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancies of teams which qualified for the Champions League group stage via play-offs.
^
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[7] On 2 May 2022, UEFA confirmed that Russian clubs would be excluded from the 2022–23 UEFA competitions.^[8]
^
Ukraine (UKR): The 2021–22 Ukrainian Premier League and the 2021–22 Ukrainian U19 League were abandoned due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The top teams of the two leagues at the time of the abandonment (Shakhtar Donetsk and Rukh Lviv respectively) were selected to play in the 2022–23 UEFA Youth League by the Ukrainian Association of Football.
^
Kazakhstan (KAZ): The 2021 Kazakhstan Youth Cup were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan. The top teams of the two leagues at the time of the abandonment. Astana, were selected to play in the 2022–23 UEFA Youth League by the Kazakhstan Football Federation.

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).^[9]

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.

More information Phase, Round ...

Schedule for 2022–23 UEFA Youth League
Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
UEFA Champions League Path Group stage	Matchday 1	25 August 2022	6–7 September 2022
	Matchday 2		13–14 September 2022
	Matchday 3		4–5 October 2022
	Matchday 4		11–12 October 2022
	Matchday 5		25–26 October 2022
	Matchday 6		1–2 November 2022
Domestic Champions Path	First round	31 August 2022	14 September 2022	5 October 2022
Domestic Champions Path	Second round	31 August 2022	26 October 2022	2 November 2022
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	8 November 2022	7–8 February 2023
	Round of 16	13 February 2023	28 February 2023 & 1 March
	Quarter-finals		14–15 March 2023
	Semi-finals		21 April 2023 at Stade de Genève, Geneva
	Final		24 April 2023 at Stade de Genève, Geneva

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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.^[10]

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.