2019–20 UEFA Youth League

The Colovray Stadium in Nyon hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	17 September 2019 – 25 August 2020
Teams	64 (from 41 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid (1st title)
Runners-up	Benfica
Tournament statistics
Matches played	167
Goals scored	554 (3.32 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Roberto Piccoli Gonçalo Ramos (8 goals each)
← 2018–19 2020–21 → 2021–22 →

The 2019–20 UEFA Youth League was 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.^[1][2] 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.^[3] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the remaining matches, including two round of 16 matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, would be played between 16 and 25 August at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland behind closed doors.^[4][5][6]

Real Madrid defeated Benfica in the final 3–2 to win their first title.^[7] Porto were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg in the play-offs.

A total of 64 teams from at least 32 of the 55 UEFA member associations could enter the tournament. They were split into two sections, each with 32 teams:^[8]

• UEFA Champions League Path: The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2019–20 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 2018 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path.^[9] 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.

For this season, 41 associations were represented, with Estonia being represented for the first time.^[10]

Qualified teams for 2019–20 UEFA Youth League

Rank	Association	Teams
		UEFA Champions League Path	Domestic Champions Path
1	Spain	Barcelona Atlético Madrid Real Madrid Valencia	Zaragoza (2018–19 División de Honor Juvenil U-19)[11]
2	England	Manchester City Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur	Derby County (2018–19 U18 Premier League)[12]
3	Italy	Juventus Napoli Atalanta[YC] (2018–19 Campionato Primavera 1)[13] Inter Milan
4	Germany	Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund[YC] (2018–19 U19 Bundesliga)[14] RB Leipzig Bayer Leverkusen
5	France	Paris Saint-Germain Lille Lyon	Rennes (2018–19 Championnat National U19)[15]
6	Russia	Zenit Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv Moscow[YC] (2018 U17 RFS Cup)[16]
7	Portugal	Benfica	Porto[TH] (2018–19 Campeonato Nacional Juniores S19)[17]
8	Ukraine	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv (2018–19 Ukrainian U19 League)[18]
9	Belgium	Genk[YC] (2018–19 Belgian U18 League)[19] Club Brugge[PO]
10	Turkey	Galatasaray[YC] (2019 U19 Süper Kupa)[20]
11	Austria	Red Bull Salzburg[YC] (2018–19 Jugendliga U18)[21]
12	Switzerland		Young Boys (2018–19 Swiss U18 League)[22]
13	Czech Republic	Slavia Prague[PO][YC] (2018–19 Czech U19 League)[23]
14	Netherlands	Ajax[PO][YC] (2018–19 Eredivisie U19)[24]
15	Greece	Olympiacos[PO]	PAOK (2018–19 Superleague K19)[25]
16	Croatia	Dinamo Zagreb[PO][YC] (2018–19 1. HNL Juniori U19)[26]
17	Denmark		Midtjylland (2018–19 U19 Ligaen)[27]
18	Israel		Maccabi Petah Tikva (2018–19 Israeli Noar Premier League)[28]
19	Cyprus		APOEL (2018–19 Cypriot U19 League)[29]
20	Romania		Viitorul Constanța (2018–19 Liga Elitelor U19)[30]
21	Poland		Korona Kielce (2018–19 Polish U18 Central Junior League)[31]
22	Sweden		Elfsborg (2018 Swedish U17 League)[32]
23	Azerbaijan		Gabala (2018–19 Azerbaijani U19 League)[33]
24	Bulgaria		Ludogorets Razgrad (2018–19 U18 BFU Cup)[34]
25	Serbia	Red Star Belgrade[PO]	Brodarac (2018–19 Serbian U19 League)[35]
26	Scotland		Rangers (2018–19 Scottish U18 League)[36]
27	Belarus		Minsk (2018–19 Belarusian U18 League)[37][Note BLR]
28	Kazakhstan		Astana (2018 Kazakhstani U17 League)[38]
29	Norway		Sogndal (2018 Norwegian U19 Cup)[39]
30	Slovenia		Domžale (2018–19 Slovenian U19 League)[40]
32	Slovakia		Slovan Bratislava (2018–19 Slovak U19 League)[41]
33	Moldova		Sheriff Tiraspol[V-LIE] (2018–19 Divizia Națională U19)[42]
34	Albania		Shkëndija Tiranë[V-YC] (2018–19 Albanian U19 League)[43]
35	Iceland		ÍA[V-YC] (2018 Icelandic U19 League)[44]
36	Hungary		MTK Budapest[V-YC] (2018–19 Hungarian U19 League)[45]
37	North Macedonia		Shkëndija[V-YC] (2018–19 Macedonian U19 League)[46]
38	Finland		FC Honka[V-YC] (2018 U17 B-Junior League)[47]
39	Republic of Ireland		Bohemians[V-YC] (2018 League of Ireland U19 Division)[48]
40	Bosnia and Herzegovina		Zrinjski Mostar[V-PO] (2018–19 Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 Junior League)[49]
41	Latvia		Liepāja[V-PO] (2018 Latvian U18 League)[50]
42	Estonia		FCI Levadia[V-PO] (2018 Estonian U19 League)[51]

Notes

Associations without any participating teams
(no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League group stage, and either with no youth domestic competition or not ranked high enough for a vacancy)

Rank Association 31  Liechtenstein 43  Lithuania 44  Montenegro 45  Georgia 46  Armenia

Rank Association 47  Malta 48  Luxembourg 49  Northern Ireland 50  Wales 51  Faroe Islands

Rank Association 52  Gibraltar 53  Andorra 54  San Marino 55  Kosovo

Teams could name a squad of no more than forty players. A maximum of five players could be born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2000, with no more than three of these players in a matchday squad, while the remainder had to be born on or after 1 January 2001.^[8]

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[10][5]

• 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: 13 February 2020
  • Round of 16: 6 March 2020
  • Quarter-finals: 20 March 2020

The competition was suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.^[2] 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, wad officially postponed on 18 March 2020.^[3] A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season,^[53] with the final decision made at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 17 June 2020.^[54][4]

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.^[55]

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 were joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path. The matchdays were 17–18 September, 1–2 October, 22–23 October, 5–6 November, 26–27 November, and 10–11 December 2019.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RMA	BRU	PAR	GAL
1	Real Madrid	6	4	1	1	16	10	+6	13	Round of 16		—	3–0	6–3	2–4
2	Club Brugge	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10	Play-offs		2–2	—	2–0	3–2
3	Paris Saint-Germain	6	2	0	4	10	15	−5	6[a]			1–2	0–4	—	1–0
4	Galatasaray	6	2	0	4	9	13	−4	6[a]			0–1	2–1	1–5	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAY	RSB	TOT	OLY
1	Bayern Munich	6	4	2	0	18	2	+16	14	Round of 16		—	0–0	3–0	6–0
2	Red Star Belgrade	6	3	2	1	8	11	−3	11	Play-offs		1–1	—	2–0	2–1
3	Tottenham Hotspur	6	2	1	3	12	12	0	7			1–4	9–2	—	1–0
4	Olympiacos	6	0	1	5	2	15	−13	1			0–4	0–1	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATA	DZG	MCI	SHK
1	Atalanta	6	4	1	1	10	5	+5	13	Round of 16		—	2–0	1–0	2–2
2	Dinamo Zagreb	6	3	2	1	6	5	+1	11	Play-offs		1–0	—	1–0	1–0
3	Manchester City	6	2	1	3	11	8	+3	7			1–3	2–2	—	5–0
4	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	0	2	4	5	14	−9	2			1–2	1–1	1–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JUV	ATM	LEV	LMO
1	Juventus	6	5	0	1	17	4	+13	15	Round of 16		—	2–1	4–1	1–2
2	Atlético Madrid	6	4	0	2	11	8	+3	12	Play-offs		0–4	—	2–0	3–0
3	Bayer Leverkusen	6	1	1	4	6	16	−10	4[a]			0–5	0–2	—	2–2
4	Lokomotiv Moscow	6	1	1	4	7	13	−6	4[a]			0–1	2–3	1–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIV	SAL	GNK	NAP
1	Liverpool	6	4	1	1	17	6	+11	13	Round of 16		—	4–2	0–1	7–0
2	Red Bull Salzburg	6	3	1	2	19	11	+8	10	Play-offs		2–3	—	1–1	7–2
3	Genk	6	2	2	2	5	6	−1	8			0–2	0–2	—	3–1
4	Napoli	6	0	2	4	5	23	−18	2			1–1	1–5	0–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		INT	DOR	SLP	BAR
1	Inter Milan	6	4	0	2	15	7	+8	12[a]	Round of 16		—	4–1	4–0	2–0
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	4	0	2	12	9	+3	12[a]	Play-offs		2–1	—	5–1	2–1
3	Slavia Prague	6	3	0	3	9	16	−7	9			4–1	1–0	—	0–4
4	Barcelona	6	1	0	5	8	12	−4	3			0–3	1–2	2–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BEN	LYO	RBL	ZEN
1	Benfica	6	5	0	1	17	6	+11	15	Round of 16		—	1–2	2–1	1–0
2	Lyon	6	4	0	2	13	10	+3	12	Play-offs		2–3	—	1–0	4–2
3	RB Leipzig	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4[a]			0–3	1–3	—	1–1
4	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	1	1	4	7	16	−9	4[a]			1–7	3–1	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AJX	LIL	CHE	VAL
1	Ajax	6	3	2	1	13	7	+6	11	Round of 16		—	4–0	0–1	1–1
2	Lille	6	3	1	2	7	8	−1	10	Play-offs		1–2	—	2–0	1–0
3	Chelsea	6	1	3	2	7	9	−2	6			1–1	1–1	—	3–3
4	Valencia	6	1	2	3	10	13	−3	5			3–5	1–2	2–1	—

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.^[56] 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 was tied after full-time of the second leg, the away goals rule was used to decide the winner. If still tied, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played). The eight second round winners advanced to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path (group stage).^[8]

The first legs were played on 2, 3, 5 and 9 October, and the second legs were played from 22–24 October 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
APOEL	2–1[A]	Gabala	1–1	1–0
Shkëndija Tiranë	1–3	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–2	0–1
MTK Budapest	1–3	Zrinjski Mostar	1–1	0–2
Zaragoza	5–1	Korona Kielce	1–0	4–1
Minsk	2–9	Derby County	0–2	2–7
Elfsborg	1–3	Midtjylland	1–2	0–1
Sogndal	4–2	FC Honka	3–1	1–1
ÍA	16–1	FCI Levadia	4–0	12–1
Bohemians	1–2	PAOK	1–1	0–1
Rennes	2–1	Brodarac	2–1	0–0
Young Boys	5–5 (a)	Rangers	3–3	2–2
Porto	7–2	Liepāja	4–2	3–0
Viitorul Constanța	0–2	Domžale	0–0	0–2
Slovan Bratislava	1–1 (4–2 p)[A]	Ludogorets Razgrad	1–0	0–1
Dynamo Kyiv	10–2	Shkëndija	8–0	2–2
Astana	1–4	Maccabi Petah Tikva	1–0	0–4

Notes

The first legs were played on 4 and 6 November, and the second legs were played from 26–27 November and 4 December 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sheriff Tiraspol	3–3 (a)	Sogndal	2–0	1–3
Zaragoza	9–0	APOEL	5–0	4–0
Midtjylland	3–1	Zrinjski Mostar	3–1	0–0
ÍA	2–6	Derby County	1–2	1–4
Porto	5–2	Domžale	2–2	3–0
Dynamo Kyiv	5–2	PAOK	3–0	2–2
Rangers	4–1	Slovan Bratislava	2–0	2–1
Rennes	3–0	Maccabi Petah Tikva	2–0	1–0

The draw for the play-offs was held on 16 December 2019, 14:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[57] 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 level after full-time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[8]

The play-offs were played on 11 and 12 February 2020. 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.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Derby County	3–1	Borussia Dortmund
Porto	1–1 (6–7 p)	Red Bull Salzburg
Zaragoza	1–3	Lyon
Dynamo Kyiv	0–0 (3–4 p)	Dinamo Zagreb
Sheriff Tiraspol	0–0 (2–4 p)	Red Star Belgrade
Rangers	0–4	Atlético Madrid
Midtjylland	1–1 (7–6 p)	Lille
Rennes	1–1 (5–3 p)	Club Brugge

The draw for the round of 16 onwards was held on 14 February 2020, 13:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[58] 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 sixteen 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 level after full-time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[8]

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

4 March

Bayern Munich

2 (5)

18 August – Nyon

Dinamo Zagreb (p)

2 (6)

Dinamo Zagreb

1

3 March

Benfica

3

Benfica

4

22 August – Nyon

Liverpool

1

Benfica

3

4 March

Ajax

0

Red Star Belgrade

0

18 August – Nyon

Midtjylland

3

Midtjylland

1

3 March

Ajax

3

Ajax (p)

0 (6)

25 August – Nyon

Atlético Madrid

0 (5)

Benfica

2

4 March

Real Madrid

3

Red Bull Salzburg

4

19 August – Nyon

Derby County

1

Red Bull Salzburg

4

10 March

Lyon

3

Atalanta

3 (3)

22 August – Nyon

Lyon (p)

3 (5)

Red Bull Salzburg

1

16 August – Nyon

Real Madrid

2

Inter Milan

1

19 August – Nyon

Rennes

0

Inter Milan

0

16 August – Nyon

Real Madrid

3

Juventus

1

Real Madrid

3

Six of the eight round of 16 matches were played on 3, 4 and 10 March 2020, while the remaining two matches could not be played as scheduled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.^[1] They were rescheduled to 16 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.^[59]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Bayern Munich	2–2 (5–6 p)	Dinamo Zagreb
Ajax	0–0 (6–5 p)	Atlético Madrid
Atalanta	3–3 (3–5 p)	Lyon
Inter Milan	1–0[A]	Rennes
Red Bull Salzburg	4–1	Derby County
Benfica	4–1	Liverpool
Red Star Belgrade	0–3	Midtjylland
Juventus	1–3	Real Madrid

Notes

The quarter-finals, originally scheduled to be played on 17 and 18 March 2020, were postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.^[62][1] They were rescheduled to 18 and 19 August 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.^[59]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Inter Milan	0–3	Real Madrid
Red Bull Salzburg	4–3	Lyon
Midtjylland	1–3	Ajax
Dinamo Zagreb	1–3	Benfica

The semi-finals, originally scheduled to be played on 17 April 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon, were postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. They were rescheduled to 22 August 2020.^[59]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Benfica	3–0	Ajax
Red Bull Salzburg	1–2	Real Madrid

The final, originally scheduled to be played on 20 April 2020 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon, was postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. It was rescheduled to 25 August 2020.^[59]

25 August 2020 (2020-08-25)

18:00 CEST

Benfica	2–3	Real Madrid
Ramos 49', 57'	Report	Rodríguez 26' Jocú 45' (o.g.) Gutiérrez 50'

Colovray Stadium, Nyon

Attendance: 0^{[note 1]}

Referee: Chris Kavanagh (England)

There were 554 goals scored in 167 matches, for an average of 3.32 goals per match.^[64]

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
			GS	DC	KO	Total
1	Roberto Piccoli	Atalanta	6	—	2	8
	Gonçalo Ramos	Benfica	2	—	6
3	Chukwubuike Adamu	Red Bull Salzburg	1	—	5	6
	Troy Parrott	Tottenham Hotspur	6	—	—
	Luka Sučić	Red Bull Salzburg	4	—	2
6	Rayan Cherki	Lyon	4	—	1	5
	Tiago Dantas	Benfica	3	—	2
	Curtis Jones	Liverpool	5	—	0
	Youri Regeer	Ajax	5	—	0
	Morgan Whittaker	Derby County	—	5	0

Notes

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