The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.
The final was played on 29 April 2019 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between English side Chelsea and Portuguese side Porto. In their first appearance in the final, Porto won 3–1 and secured their first title in the competition, the first ever for a Portuguese team. Barcelona were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Chelsea in the semi-finals, in a rematch of the previous season's final.
Teams A total of 64 teams from 37 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 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Champions League Path. Should there have been 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 2017 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path. Should there have been 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 had not yet qualified, and then by the youth domestic champions of the next association in the UEFA ranking.
For this season, 37 associations were represented.
+Qualified teams for 2018–19 UEFA Youth LeagueRankAssociationTeamsUEFA Champions League PathDomestic Champions Path12Hertha BSC 3Chelsea 45Montpellier 6Anzhi Makhachkala 78Shakhtar DonetskDynamo Kyiv 9Club BruggeAnderlecht 10GalatasarayAltınordu 11Viktoria PlzeňSigma Olomouc 12Young BoysBasel 1314AEK AthensPAOK 15Flyeralarm Admira 16Dinamo Zagreb 17Viitorul Constanța 18Midtjylland 19Minsk 20Lech Poznań 21IF Elfsborg 22Maccabi Tel Aviv 23Hamilton Academical 24AEL Limassol 25Molde 26Gabala 27Septemvri Sofia 28Red Star Belgrade 29Astana 30Maribor 31Žilina 33Illés Akadémia 34Sheriff Tiraspol 35KR 36HJK 37Vllaznia 38Bohemians Notes
+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)RankAssociation323940414243RankAssociation444546474849RankAssociation505152535455
Squads Players had to be born on or after 1 January 2000, with a maximum of five players born between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 1999 allowed in the 40-player squad, and a maximum of three of these players allowed per each match.
Starting from this season, up to five substitutions were permitted per team in each match.
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).
+Schedule for 2018–19 UEFA Youth LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legUEFA Champions League PathGroup stageMatchday 130 August 2018(Monaco)18–19 September 2018Matchday 22–3 October 2018Matchday 323–24 October 2018Matchday 46–7 November 2018Matchday 527–28 November 2018Matchday 611–12 December 2018Domestic Champions PathFirst round4 September 20183 October 201824 October 2018Second round7 November 201828 November 2018Knockout phaseKnockout round play-offs17 December 201819–20 February 2019Round of 1622 February 201912–13 March 2019Quarter-finals2–3 April 2019Semi-finals26 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, NyonFinal29 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon Notes 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. For the play-offs, round of 16 and quarter-finals, in principle matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the matchdays as scheduled; however, matches could also be played on other dates, provided they were completed before the following dates: Play-offs: 21 February 2019 Round of 16: 15 March 2019 Quarter-finals: 5 April 2019
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 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 30 August 2018, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight group winners advanced to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path.
The matchdays were 18–19 September, 2–3 October, 23–24 October, 6–7 November, 27–28 November, and 11–12 December 2018.
TiebreakersTeams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.03): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Away goals scored in all group matches; Wins in all group matches; Away wins in all group matches; Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); Drawing of lots.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Domestic Champions Path
First round
Second round
Knockout phase
Bracket
Knockout round play-offs
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top scorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsTotal1 Charlie Brown Chelsea—93122 Romário Baró Porto4—26 Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn Ajax6—0 Rodrigo Real Madrid6—0 Casper Tengstedt Midtjylland—516 Alberto Real Madrid3—25 Sergio Camello Atlético Madrid5—0 Facundo Colidio Inter Milan5—— Gianluca Gaetano Napoli5—— Mason Greenwood Manchester United5—0 Eduardo Guerrero Maccabi Tel Aviv—5— Lenny Pintor Lyon3—2 Daishawn Redan Chelsea—41 Alessio Riccardi Roma5—0 Fábio Silva Porto4—1 Nuno Santos Benfica5—0
Notes
References
External links