2012–13 NextGen Series


The 2012–13 NextGen Series was the second season of the NextGen Series. The tournament involved the under-19 teams from 24 different countries across Europe. The tournament was won by Aston Villa who overcame Chelsea in the final.

Format changes

From the previous season's competition, one major format change has been announced, with the competition moving from a 16-team to a 24-team affair. The group stage was run in six groups of four, an expansion of the same format as the previous season.

Teams

The 24 teams were sorted into six groups, where they played each other home and away in a Round-robin tournament. The top teams advanced to the finals of the competition.
Fifteen of the 16 founder-members reprise their roles, consisting of some of the highest-reputations teams from across UEFA, mirroring the current or recent Champions League involvement of their first teams. Only Basel of Switzerland declined the invitation to reappear.
They were joined by a further nine teams of high standing for the expanded series.
The 24 teams were sorted into six groups of four, where they play each other home and away in a double round robin format. The top-two teams from each group progressed to the knock-out stages of the competition alongside the four highest points-scoring third-place finishers.
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners, runners-up and four best third placed teams advance to the [|round of 16]

Group 1

Team
Barcelona6321126+611
Anderlecht623186+29
Tottenham Hotspur6222101008
Wolfsburg6114917−84

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Group 2

Team
Paris Saint-Germain6411105+513
Juventus6330139+412
Manchester City6123810−25
Fenerbahçe6024613−72

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Group 3

Team
CSKA Moscow640285+312
Ajax6321156+911
Chelsea6231126+69
Molde6015220−181

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Group 4

Team
Sporting CP64021211+112
Aston Villa6312128+410
PSV Eindhoven630369−39
Celtic6114810-24

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Group 5

Team
Internazionale63121010010
Rosenborg63121010010
Liverpool63031410+49
Borussia Dortmund612359-45

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Group 6

Team
Olympiacos623145−19
Arsenal622275+28
Marseille6222410−68
Athletic Bilbao6213127+57

Kickoff times are in CET.
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Ranking of third-placed teams

Team
3 Chelsea6231126+69
5 Liverpool63031410+49
4 PSV Eindhoven630369−39
1 Tottenham Hotspur6222101008
6 Marseille6222410−68
2 Manchester City6123810−25

Knockout stage

The knockout round matches were decided by ordering each team from 1 through 16, with the top ranked team facing the lowest ranked team, and on down.
Key to colours
Group winners
Runners-up
Four best third-placed teams

Bracket

Round of 16

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

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Third place match

Final

Top goalscorers

Players and teams in bold are still active in the competition:

RankNameTeamGoals
1 Graham Burke Aston Villa7
1 Islam Feruz Chelsea7
3 Michael Drennan Aston Villa6
4 Conor Coady Liverpool5
4 Shaq Coulthirst Tottenham Hotspur5
4 Carlos Mané Sporting CP5
7 Chuba Akpom Arsenal4
7 Lewis Baker Chelsea4
7 Viktor Fischer Ajax4
7 Alex Pritchard Tottenham Hotspur4
11 Magnus Blakstad Rosenborg3
11 Jeremie Boga Chelsea3
11 Francesco Forte Internazionale3
11 Philipp Hauck Wolfsburg3
11 Nikolaos Ioannidis Olympiacos3
11 Alex Kiwomya Chelsea3
11 Iuri Medeiros Sporting CP3
11 Adam Morgan Liverpool3
11 Sandro Barcelona3
11 Gorka Santamaría Athletic Bilbao3

;Note
1: In January 2013 Alex Pritchard moved on loan from Tottenham Hotspur to Peterborough United.