Final path third round UEFA Youth League domestic champions | UEFA Youth Competition

The renewed trajectory for the domestic champions of the UEFA Youth League 2024/25 is in full swing.

The third round – which decides which ten clubs from this path will progress to the last 32 – started on Tuesday with 2022/23 winners AZ Alkmaar coming from behind to secure a 2-1 first leg victory against Manchester United, that will organize the return. at Old Trafford.

Basel plays the other opening match on Tuesday against SK Rapid, who reached the second round on a debit card. Wednesday’s first stages involve national champion path specialists Midtjylland and Rapid’s fellow newcomers 2 Korriku, Auxerre, Real Betis and Sassuolo, with the latter two evenly matched.

One of only two clubs still involved that started in the first round, along with FK Sarajevo, 2 Korriku from Kosovo were among six participants from associations that had never been represented before. Another of the six, Malta’s Valletta, also got through the opening round, producing a dramatic comeback in the late second leg against Finland’s Honka Espoo, before winning on penalties, although they were subsequently knocked out by Auxerre.

Several other clubs became the first from their countries to get through a round of this competition before losing in the second leg: Budućnost Podgorica of Montenegro, Daugavpils of Latvia (who conceded against Cliftonville in the 90th minute, equalized deep into extra time and then won on the spot kicks), Luxembourg’s Progrès Niederkorn, Estonian Tallinna Kalev and Lithuanian Žalgiris.

How the domestic champion path works

Under the new format, the number of entries on this path has been increased from 32 to 52 teams, with an additional round and ten teams advancing to the new round of 32, instead of eight to the play-offs as before.

• The path for the domestic champions will be played in three rounds of two-legged matches, all drawn on Tuesday, September 3.
• The 24 clubs from the lowest ranked entering associations started in the first round.
• Clubs from the Ranked 28 at the top participating associations, including holders Olympiacos, started their campaigns in the second round.
• The ten winners of the third round will advance to the round of 32 and will be drawn against the teams finishing between seventh and sixteenth in the final. UEFA Champions League path competition stage.

Watch: documentary film about the Youth League on UEFA.tv

Third round

Always CET

First legs

Tuesday November 26

AZ Alkmaar 2-1 Manchester United
Basel vs SK Rapid (19:00)

Wednesday November 27

Legia Warszawa vs Midtyjlland (12:00)
Dynamo Kiev vs 2 Korriku (13:00)
Farul Constanța vs Lokomotiva Zagreb (13:00)
Sarajevo vs Trabzonspor (3:00 PM)
Puskás Akademia vs Genk (4:00 PM)
Real Betis vs Sassuolo (4:00 PM)
Trenčín vs Olympiakos (5:00 PM)
Auxerre vs Hoffenheim (19:00)

Second legs

Tuesday, December 10

Manchester United vs AZ Alkmaar (20:00, first leg: 1-2)

Wednesday December 11th

Lokomotiva Zagreb vs. Farul Constanța (12:00)
Olympiakos vs. Trenčín (12:00)
Trabzonspor vs Sarajevo (12:00)
2 Korriku vs Dynamo Kyiv (4:00 PM)
SK Rapid vs Basel (5:00 PM)
Midtjylland vs Legia Warszawa (18:00)
Sassuolo vs Real Betis (18:00)
Hoffenheim vs Auxerre (19:00)

Tuesday, December 17

Genk vs Puskás Akadémia (18:00)

Team guide

• Holders Olympiacos and AZ Alkmaar, the 2022/23 winners, both started their victorious seasons on the national champions’ path, which had previously produced just one winner: Salzburg in 2016/17.

• Hoffenheim reached the 2018/19 semi-finals on the strength of their only previous participation (via the Champions League route).

• Midtjylland has been on the path of national champions a record six times, reaching the quarter-finals twice. They eliminated Legia in the second and final round of the first season of the national championship campaign in 2015/16.

• Their debut campaigns are continued by 2 Korriku (the very first participants from Kosovo), Auxerre, Real Betis, Rapid and Sassuolo.

• Legia, Lokomotiva, Puskás Akadémia, Sarajevo, Trabzonspor and Trenčín are also aiming to reach the knockout stages for the first time after the New Year.

• 2 Korriku and Sarajevo both started in the first round.

Second round

Second legs

Wednesday November 6
Kairat 0-5 Real Betis (aggregate: 1-11)
IMT Novi Beograd 1-0 Farul Constanța (aggregate: 1-2)
SK Rapid 3-2 Braga (ag: 3-2)
CSKA-Sofia 1-3 Genk (ag: 2-6)
Sabah 1-2 Basel (aggregate: 1-8)
Pafos 0-3 Legia Warsaw (collectively: 0-6)
Puskás Akademia 3-0 Aberdeen (summarized: 8-1)
Maribor 1-3 Dynamo Kyiv (summarized: 2-4)
Zbrojovka Brno 1-3 Trenčín (ag: 3-6)
Budućnost Podgorica 2-5 Trabzonspor (summarized: 3-8)
Hoffenheim 4-1 IFK Gothenburg (summarized: 7-1)
AZ Alkmaar 4-1 Strømsgodset (ag: 8-2)
Valletta 0-2 Auxerre (collectively: 0-7)
Tallinna Kalev 1-2 Olympiacos (aggregate: 1-7)
Sassuolo 4-0 Daugavpils (ag: 9-0)
UCD 1-3 2 Korriku (ag: 2-5)
Manchester United 6-0 Zalgiris (aggregate: 11-2)

Tuesday November 5
Midtjylland 5-0 Progress Niederkorn (ag: 9-0) 

Sunday October 27
Dinamo-Minsk 0-0 Lokomotiva Zagreb (aggregate: 1-2)

Match cancelled
FK Sarajevo 3-0 Maccabi Petah-Tikva (match canceled – Maccabi Petah-Tikva withdrawn, total: 6-0)

First legs

Wednesday October 23
Daugavpils 0-5 Sassuolo
Legia Warsaw 3-0 Pafos
Dynamo Kyiv 1-1 Maribor
Lokomotiva Zagreb 2-1 Dinamo-Minsk
Farul Constanța 2-0 IMT Novi Beograd
Real Betis 6-1 Kairat
Olympiacos 5-0 Tallinna Kalev
2 Korriku 2-1 UCD
IFK Gothenburg 0-3 Hoffenheim
Trenčín 3-2 Zbrojovka Brno
Zalgiris 2-5 Manchester United
Trabzonspor 3-1 Budućnost Podgorica
Auxerre 5-0 Valletta
Basel 6-0 Sabah
Progress Niederkorn 0-4 Central Jutland
Strømsgodset 1-4 AZ Alkmaar
Aberdeen 1-5 Puskás Akademia

Tuesday, October 22
Braga 0-0 SK Rapid
Genk 3-1 CSKA-Sofia

Match cancelled
Maccabi Petah-Tikva 0-3 FK Sarajevo (match canceled – Maccabi Petah-Tikva withdrawn)

Team guide

• Auxerre is the 14th different French participant in the competition as a whole, sharing the record with Germany.

• In addition to Auxerre, Aberdeen, CSKA-Sofia, IFK Göteborg, IMT, Rapid Wien, Real Betis, Sabah, Sassuolo, Strømsgodset and Zbrojovka Brno also made their debuts in the second round.

• The debutants from the first round were 2 Korriku and Valletta, the first participants from Kosovo and Malta respectively, plus Budućnost Podgorica, Progrès Niederkorn and Tallinna Kalev.

• Before their merger with Farul, Viitorul previously reached the Round of 16 in 2016/17.

First round results

Second legs

Wednesday October 2
2 Korriku 2-1 Bylis (summarized: 4-2)
Academia Rebeja Chisinau 1-4 Kairat (ag: 2-6)
Maribor 2-0 Lincoln Red Imps (summarized: 8-0)
FK Sarajevo 2-0 AP Brera Strumica (summarized: 4-2)
Budućnost Podgorica 4-1 Dinamo Tbilisi (summarized: 6-4)
Progress Niederkorn 3-0 HB (summarized: 5-1)
Valletta 3-2 Honka Espoo (aggregate: 3-3, Valletta wins 3-0 on penalties)
FC Santa Coloma 0-4 Tallinna Kalev (collectively: 0-11)
Cliftonville 2-1 Daugavpils (total: 2-2, Daugavpils wins 4-2 on penalties)
Stjarnan 3-2 UCD (summarized: 3-5)

Tuesday October 1
The New Saints 0-4 Zalgiris (ag: 2-7)

Sunday September 22
Pyunik 1-2 Dinamo-Minsk (ag: 3-6)

First legs

Wednesday September 18
Kairat 2-1 Academia Rebeja Chisinau
Bylis 1-2 2 Korriku
Daugavpils 1-0 Cliftonville
Dinamo Tbilisi 3-2 Budućnost Podgorica
Honka Espoo 1-0 Valletta
Žalgiris 3-2 The new saints
Dinamo-Minsk 4-2 Pyunik
Tallinna Kalev 7-0 FC Santa Coloma
Lincoln Red Imps 0-6 Maribor
HB 1-2 Progress Niederkorn
UCD 3-0 Stjarnan

Tuesday September 17
AP Brera Strumica 2-2 FK Sarajevo

Team guide

• Making their debuts in this round were 2 Korriku, Academia Rebeja, Brera Strumica, Budućnost Podgorica, Bylis, Cliftonville, FC Santa Coloma, HB, Lincoln Red Imps, Progrès Niederkorn, Tallinna Kalev, TNS and Valletta.

• Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Malta and Wales were represented for the first time.

Knockouts and final four

A single knockout stage will be played with one-leg draws starting with the round of 32. The clubs ranked 1 to 6 (Champions League path) will play against the clubs ranked 17 to with 22. The clubs in the rankings from 7 to 16 are confronted with the ten clubs that qualify via the domestic champion path.

There will be another open draw for the round of 16 and beyond.

The tournament will conclude, as before, with a last four (semi-finals and final) played at the Colovray Sports Center in Nyon, Switzerland.

Knockout draw and match dates

Round of 32: December 20, Nyon
Round of 32: February 11/12
Knockout draw (round 16 onwards): February 14, Nyon
Round of 16: March 4/5
Quarter-finals: April 1/2
Semi-finals: April 25 (Sportcentrum Colovray, Nyon)
Final: April 28 (Sportcentrum Colovray, Nyon)

New format explained