2018–19 UEFA Youth League

The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.

2018–19 UEFA Youth League

The Colovray Stadium in Nyon hosted the semi-finals and final.
Tournament details
Dates	18 September 2018 – 29 April 2019
Teams	64 (from 37 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Porto (1st title)
Runners-up	Chelsea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	167
Goals scored	569 (3.41 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Charlie Brown (Chelsea) 12 goals
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

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 at least 32 of the 55 UEFA member associations may enter the tournament. They are split into two sections, each with 32 teams:^[1]

• 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 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 2017 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path.^[2] Should 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 had not yet qualified, and then by the youth domestic champions of the next association in the UEFA ranking.

For this season, 37 associations are represented.^[3]

Qualified teams for 2018–19 UEFA Youth League

Rank	Association	Teams
		UEFA Champions League Path	Domestic Champions Path
1	Spain	Barcelona[TH] Atlético Madrid[YC] (2017–18 División de Honor Juvenil U18)[4] Real Madrid Valencia
2	Germany	Bayern Munich Schalke 04 TSG Hoffenheim Borussia Dortmund	Hertha BSC (2017–18 U19 Bundesliga)[5]
3	England	Manchester City Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur Liverpool	Chelsea (2017–18 U18 Premier League)[6]
4	Italy	Juventus Napoli Roma Inter Milan[YC] (2017–18 Campionato Primavera U19)[7]
5	France	Paris Saint-Germain Monaco Lyon	Montpellier (2017–18 Championnat National U19)[8]
6	Russia	Lokomotiv Moscow CSKA Moscow	Anzhi Makhachkala (2017 U17 RFS Cup)[9]
7	Portugal	Porto Benfica[PO][YC] (2017–18 Campeonato Nacional Juniores S19)[10]
8	Ukraine	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv (2017–18 Ukrainian U19 League)[11]
9	Belgium	Club Brugge	Anderlecht (2017–18 Belgian U17 League)[12]
10	Turkey	Galatasaray	Altınordu (2018 U19 Süper Kupa)[13]
11	Czech Republic	Viktoria Plzeň	Sigma Olomouc (2017–18 Czech U19 League)[14]
12	Switzerland	Young Boys[PO]	Basel (2017–18 Swiss U18 League)[15]
13	Netherlands	PSV Eindhoven[PO][YC] (2017–18 U19 Eredivisie)[16] Ajax[PO]
14	Greece	AEK Athens[PO]	PAOK (2017–18 Superleague K20)[17]
15	Austria		Flyeralarm Admira (2017–18 U18 Jugendliga)[18]
16	Croatia		Dinamo Zagreb (2017–18 1. HNL Juniori U19)[19]
17	Romania		Viitorul Constanța (2017–18 Liga Elitelor U19)[20]
18	Denmark		Midtjylland (2017–18 U19 Ligaen)[21]
19	Belarus		Minsk (2017–18 Belarusian U18 League)[22]
20	Poland		Lech Poznań (2017–18 Polish U19 Central Junior League) [23]
21	Sweden		IF Elfsborg (2017 Swedish U17 League)[24]
22	Israel		Maccabi Tel Aviv (2017–18 Israeli U19 Premier League)[25]
23	Scotland		Hamilton Academical (2017–18 Scottish U17 League)[26]
24	Cyprus		AEL Limassol (2017–18 Cypriot U19 League)[27]
25	Norway		Molde (2017 Norwegian U19 Cup)[28]
26	Azerbaijan		Gabala (2017–18 Azerbaijani U19 League)[29]
27	Bulgaria		Septemvri Sofia (2017–18 U18 BFU Cup)[30]
28	Serbia	Red Star Belgrade[PO][YC] (2017–18 Serbian U19 League)[31]
29	Kazakhstan		Astana (2017 Kazakhstani U17 League)[32]
30	Slovenia		Maribor (2017–18 Slovenian U19 League)[33]
31	Slovakia		Žilina (2017–18 Slovak U19 League)[34]
33	Hungary		Illés Akadémia[V-LIE] (2017–18 Hungarian U19 League)[35]
34	Moldova		Sheriff Tiraspol[V-YC] (2017–18 Divizia Națională U19)[36]
35	Iceland		KR[V-YC] (2017 Icelandic U19 League)[37]
36	Finland		HJK[V-PO] (2017 U17 B-Junior League)[38]
37	Albania		Vllaznia[V-PO] (2017–18 Albanian U19 League)[39]
38	Republic of Ireland		Bohemians[V-PO] (2017 League of Ireland U19 Division)[40]

Notes

1. ^TH Title holders.
2. ^YC Teams playing in the UEFA Champions League Path which were also youth domestic champions.
3. ^PO Teams playing in the UEFA Champions League Path after their senior team qualified for the Champions League group stage via play-offs.
4. ^V-LIE Team playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancy of Liechtenstein (no youth domestic competition).
5. ^V-YC Teams playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancies of teams which qualified for the Champions League group stage automatically.
6. ^V-PO Teams playing in the Domestic Champions Path through the vacancy of teams which qualified for the Champions League group stage via play-offs.

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 32  Liechtenstein 39  Bosnia and Herzegovina 40  Georgia 41  Latvia 42  Macedonia 43  Estonia

Rank Association 44  Montenegro 45  Armenia 46  Luxembourg 47  Northern Ireland 48  Lithuania 49  Malta

Rank Association 50  Wales 51  Faroe Islands 52  Gibraltar 53  Andorra 54  San Marino 55  Kosovo

Squads

Players must 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.^[1]

Starting from this season, up to five substitutions are permitted per team in each match.^[41]

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[42]

Schedule for 2018–19 UEFA Youth League

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
UEFA Champions League Path Group stage	Matchday 1	30 August 2018 (Monaco)	18–19 September 2018
	Matchday 2		2–3 October 2018
	Matchday 3		23–24 October 2018
	Matchday 4		6–7 November 2018
	Matchday 5		27–28 November 2018
	Matchday 6		11–12 December 2018
Domestic Champions Path	First round	4 September 2018	3 October 2018	24 October 2018
	Second round		7 November 2018	28 November 2018
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	17 December 2018	19–20 February 2019
	Round of 16	22 February 2019	12–13 March 2019
	Quarter-finals		2–3 April 2019
	Semi-finals		26 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon[43]
	Final		29 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon[43]

Notes

• For the UEFA Champions League Path group stage, in principle the teams play 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 may also be played on other dates, including Mondays and Thursdays.
• For the Domestic Champions Path first and second rounds, in principle matches are 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 may also be played on other dates, including Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• For the play-offs, round of 16 and quarter-finals, in principle matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the matchdays as scheduled; however, matches may also be played on other dates, provided they are 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

Main article: 2018–19 UEFA Youth League group stage

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.^[44][45]

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight group winners advance to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advance to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path.

The matchdays are 18–19 September, 2–3 October, 23–24 October, 6–7 November, 27–28 November, and 11–12 December 2018.

Tiebreakers

Teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.03):[1] 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 are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATM	MON	BRU	DOR
1	Atlético Madrid	6	4	0	2	15	8	+7	12	Round of 16		—	3–0	1–2	4–0
2	Monaco	6	3	1	2	9	9	0	10	Play-offs		0–2	—	3–1	1–1
3	Club Brugge	6	2	1	3	10	11	−1	7			3–1	2–3	—	1–1
4	Borussia Dortmund	6	1	2	3	7	13	−6	5			3–4	0–2	2–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	TOT	INT	PSV
1	Barcelona	6	3	2	1	8	6	+2	11	Round of 16		—	0–2	2–1	2–1
2	Tottenham Hotspur	6	2	3	1	10	8	+2	9	Play-offs		1–1	—	2–4	2–0
3	Inter Milan	6	2	1	3	10	9	+1	7			0–2	1–1	—	3–0
4	PSV Eindhoven	6	1	2	3	6	11	−5	5			1–1	2–2	2–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIV	PAR	NAP	RSB
1	Liverpool	6	4	1	1	17	7	+10	13	Round of 16		—	5–2	5–0	2–1
2	Paris Saint-Germain	6	4	1	1	13	10	+3	13	Play-offs		3–2	—	0–0	2–1
3	Napoli	6	1	3	2	9	15	−6	6			1–1	2–5	—	5–3
4	Red Star Belgrade	6	0	1	5	6	13	−7	1			0–2	0–1	1–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POR	LMO	GAL	SCH
1	Porto	6	4	1	1	13	5	+8	13	Round of 16		—	2–1	2–2	3–0
2	Lokomotiv Moscow	6	3	1	2	8	5	+3	10	Play-offs		2–1	—	0–1	0–0
3	Galatasaray	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10			0–2	0–1	—	3–0
4	Schalke 04	6	0	1	5	2	15	−13	1			0–3	1–4	1–2	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AJX	BEN	BAY	AEK
1	Ajax	6	3	2	1	23	8	+15	11	Round of 16		—	3–0	1–2	6–0
2	Benfica	6	3	2	1	14	9	+5	11	Play-offs		3–3	—	3–0	3–0
3	Bayern Munich	6	3	2	1	12	8	+4	11			2–2	2–2	—	2–0
4	AEK Athens	6	0	0	6	2	26	−24	0			1–8	1–3	0–4	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HOF	LYO	MCI	SHK
1	TSG Hoffenheim	6	3	2	1	15	10	+5	11	Round of 16		—	3–1	5–2	1–1
2	Lyon	6	3	2	1	13	8	+5	11	Play-offs		3–3	—	2–0	2–0
3	Manchester City	6	2	1	3	10	14	−4	7			2–1	1–4	—	4–1
4	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	0	3	3	5	11	−6	3			1–2	1–1	1–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RMA	ROM	PLZ	CSKA
1	Real Madrid	6	6	0	0	20	7	+13	18	Round of 16		—	3–1	3–2	2–1
2	Roma	6	3	0	3	14	17	−3	9	Play-offs		1–6	—	3–4	3–1
3	Viktoria Plzeň	6	1	2	3	11	14	−3	5			1–2	2–4	—	1–1
4	CSKA Moscow	6	0	2	4	6	13	−7	2			1–4	1–2	1–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MUN	JUV	YB	VAL
1	Manchester United	6	5	1	0	20	7	+13	16	Round of 16		—	4–1	6–2	4–0
2	Juventus	6	3	1	2	11	11	0	10	Play-offs		2–2	—	2–1	3–0
3	Young Boys	6	2	1	3	12	15	−3	7			1–2	4–2	—	3–3
4	Valencia	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			1–2	0–1	0–1	—

Source: UEFA^{[dead link]}

Domestic Champions Path

Main article: 2018–19 UEFA Youth League Domestic Champions Path

For the Domestic Champions Path, the 32 teams were drawn into two rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties. The draw for both the first round and second round was held on 4 September 2018, 14:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[46][47] There were no seedings, but the 32 teams were split into groups defined by sporting and geographical criteria prior to the draw. In both rounds, if the aggregate score is tied after full time of the second leg, the away goals rule is used to decide the winner. If still tied, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played). The eight second round winners advance to the play-offs, where they are joined by the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path (group stage).^[1]

First round

The first legs were played on 2, 3 and 4 October 2018, and the second legs on 23 and 24 October 2018.

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Altınordu	3–2	HJK	1–1	2–1
Žilina	1–7	Montpellier	1–5	0–2
Basel	4–4 (2–3 p)	Hamilton Academical	2–2	2–2
Dynamo Kyiv	6–1	Septemvri Sofia	1–0	5–1
KR	1–3[a]	IF Elfsborg	1–2	0–1
Anderlecht	1–1 (a)	Flyeralarm Admira	0–0	1–1
Midtjylland	4–2	Bohemians	2–1	2–1
Chelsea	14–1	Molde	10–1	4–0
AEL Limassol	1–4	PAOK	1–2	0–2
Sigma Olomouc	7–3	Maribor	4–1	3–2
Gabala	4–2	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–1	3–1
Hertha BSC	5–2	Lech Poznań	2–0	3–2
Astana	7–1	Vllaznia	3–1	4–0
Anzhi Makhachkala	3–5	Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–2	0–3
Viitorul Constanța	0–3	Dinamo Zagreb	0–1	0–2
Minsk	4–3	Illés Akadémia	1–0	3–3

Notes:

1. Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Second round

The first legs were played on 6 and 7 November 2018, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 November 2018.

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Anderlecht	2–3	Dynamo Kyiv	1–1	1–2
Midtjylland	4–1	Hamilton Academical	2–0	2–1
Altınordu	2–5	Montpellier	2–4	0–1
IF Elfsborg	0–9	Chelsea	0–3	0–6
PAOK	3–1	Minsk	2–1	1–0
Gabala	1–4	Hertha BSC	1–3	0–1
Astana	2–4	Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	1–3
Sigma Olomouc	3–3 (a)	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–1	2–2

Knockout phase

Main article: 2018–19 UEFA Youth League knockout phase

The draw for the round of 16 onwards was held on 22 February 2019, 14:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[48] The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:

• In the draw for the round of 16, there were no seedings, and the 16 teams (eight UEFA Champions League Path group winners and eight play-off winners) were drawn into eight ties. Teams from the same UEFA Champions League Path group could not be drawn against each other, but teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. The draw also decided the home team for each round of 16 match.
• In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same UEFA Champions League Path group or the same association could be drawn against each other (the identity of the quarter-final winners and onwards was not known at the time of the draws). The draws also decided the home team for each quarter-final, and which quarter-final and semi-final winners were designated as the "home" team for each semi-final and final (for administrative purposes as they were played at a neutral venue).

Each tie was played over a single match. If the score was tied after full time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[1]

Bracket

	Knockout round play-offs				Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
					TSG Hoffenheim (p)	0 (4)
					Dynamo Kyiv	0 (2)
	Dynamo Kyiv	3
	Juventus	0
									TSG Hoffenheim	4
									Real Madrid	2
					Atlético Madrid	1
					Real Madrid	2
													26 April – Nyon
													TSG Hoffenheim	0
													Porto	3
					Porto	2
					Tottenham Hotspur	0
	PAOK	0
	Tottenham Hotspur	1
									Porto	3
	0
									Midtjylland	0
	Midtjylland (p)	1 (4)
	Roma	1 (2)
					Midtjylland	3
					Manchester United	1
																	29 April – Nyon
																	Porto	3
																	Chelsea	1
					Barcelona	3
					Hertha BSC	0
	Hertha BSC	2
	Paris Saint-Germain	1
									Barcelona	3
	0
									Lyon	2
	Sigma Olomouc	0
	Lyon	2
					Lyon (p)	2 (6)
					Ajax	2 (5)
													26 April – Nyon
													Barcelona	2 (4)
													Chelsea (p)	2 (5)
	Chelsea	3
	Monaco	1
					Chelsea	2
	0
					Montpellier	1
	Montpellier	2
	Benfica	1
									Chelsea (p)	2 (4)
	0
									Dinamo Zagreb	2 (2)
	Dinamo Zagreb (p)	1 (5)
	Lokomotiv Moscow	1 (4)
					Dinamo Zagreb (p)	1 (4)
					Liverpool	1 (3)

Knockout round play-offs

The draw for the knockout round play-offs was held on 17 December 2018, 14:15 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[49] The eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path were drawn against the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path, with the teams from the Domestic Champions Path hosting the match. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. Each tie was played over a single match. If the score was tied after full time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[1] The matches were played on 19 and 20 February 2019. The eight play-off winners advanced to the round of 16, where they were joined by the eight group winners from the UEFA Champions League Path.

Home team	Score	Away team
PAOK	0–1	Tottenham Hotspur
Dinamo Zagreb	1–1 (5–4 p)	Lokomotiv Moscow
Dynamo Kyiv	3–0	Juventus
Chelsea	3–1	Monaco
Montpellier	2–1	Benfica
Hertha BSC	2–1	Paris Saint-Germain
Midtjylland	1–1 (4–2 p)	Roma
Sigma Olomouc	0–2	Lyon

Round of 16

The round of 16 matches were played on 6, 12 and 13 March 2019.

Home team	Score	Away team
Chelsea	2–1	Montpellier
Midtjylland	3–1	Manchester United
Dinamo Zagreb	1–1 (4–3 p)	Liverpool
Lyon	2–2 (6–5 p)	Ajax
Barcelona	3–0	Hertha BSC
Porto	2–0	Tottenham Hotspur
TSG Hoffenheim	0–0 (4–2 p)	Dynamo Kyiv
Atlético Madrid	1–2	Real Madrid

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 2 and 3 April 2019.

Home team	Score	Away team
Barcelona	3–2	Lyon
TSG Hoffenheim	4–2	Real Madrid
Porto	3–0	Midtjylland
Chelsea	2–2 (4–2 p)	Dinamo Zagreb

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 26 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.^[50][51]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Barcelona	2–2 (4–5 p)	Chelsea
TSG Hoffenheim	0–3	Porto

Final

The final was played on 29 April 2019 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.^[50][51]

29 April 2019 (2019-04-29)

18:00 UTC+2

Porto	3–1	Chelsea
Vieira 17' Queirós 55' Sousa 75'	Report	Redan 53'

Colovray Stadium, Nyon

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: François Letexier (France)

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
			GS	DC	KO	Total
1	Charlie Brown	Chelsea	—	9	3	12
2	Romário Baró	Porto	4	—	2	6
	Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn	Ajax	6	—	0
	Rodrigo	Real Madrid	6	—	0
	Casper Tengstedt	Midtjylland	—	5	1
6	Alberto	Real Madrid	3	—	2	5
	Sergio Camello	Atlético Madrid	5	—	0
	Facundo Colidio	Inter Milan	5	—	—
	Gianluca Gaetano	Napoli	5	—	—
	Mason Greenwood	Manchester United	5	—	0
	Eduardo Guerrero	Maccabi Tel Aviv	—	5	—
	Lenny Pintor	Lyon	3	—	2
	Daishawn Redan	Chelsea	—	4	1
	Alessio Riccardi	Roma	5	—	0
	Fábio Silva	Porto	4	—	1
	Nuno Santos	Benfica	5	—	0

Source: UEFA^[52]

Notes

• — denotes the team did not participate in this stage.