The 2019–20 UEFA Youth League is the seventh season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. Following the round of 16, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final tournament consisting of the semi-finals and final, originally scheduled to be played on 17 and 20 April 2020 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, were officially postponed on 18 March 2020. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the remaining matches, including two round of 16 matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, will be played between 16 and 25 August at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland behind closed doors. Porto were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg in the play-offs.
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:
Domestic Champions Path: The youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their 2018 UEFA country coefficients enter the Domestic Champions Path. If there is a vacancy, it is 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.
For this season, 41 associations are represented, with Estonia being represented for the first time. ;Notes
Squads
Players must be born on or after 1 January 2001, with a maximum of five players born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2000 allowed in the 40-player squad, and a maximum of three of these players allowed per each match.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
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 ; 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:
The competition was suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final tournament consisting of the semi-finals and final, originally scheduled to be played on 17 and 20 April 2020 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, were officially postponed on 18 March 2020. A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season, with the final decision made at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 17 June 2020.
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 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 29 August 2019, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners advance to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advance to the play-offs, where they are joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path. The matchdays are 17–18 September, 1–2 October, 22–23 October, 5–6 November, 26–27 November, and 10–11 December 2019.
Tiebreakers
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
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 3 September 2019, 14:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. 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. 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.
First round
Second round
Play-offs
Knockout phase
Bracket (round of 16 onwards)
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
Top goalscorers
There have been 520 goals scored in 158 matches, for an average of goals per match. Names given in bold are active in the current stage of competition. ;Notes
