General
- Thursday August 26th, 2021 @ 10:24
U19s Qualify For UEFA Youth League
Our Under 19s have qualified for the UEFA Youth League, the news was confirmed on Wednesday evening.
The club has been admitted to the 2021/2022 UEFA Youth League via the domestic champions path, having won the U19 SSE Airtricity League title in December of last year.
The competition will run from next month until the finals in April 2022.
The contenders are split into two paths in the autumn, the UEFA Champions League path and domestic champions path, both of which will be drawn in August and begin in September.
They come together for the knockout phase, running from the play-offs on 8 and 9 February to the four-team final tournament in Nyon between 22 and 25 April.
The full list of contenders in both paths were confirmed after the UEFA Champions League play-offs last night.
Format
The 32 clubs that compete in the UEFA Champions League path will be those that take part in the group stage of the senior competition.
They are joined by the 32 domestic youth champions from the highest-ranked entering associations whose senior side had not qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage, these teams take part in the domestic champions path.
Where the senior side of a domestic youth champion had qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage, the vacant place is filled by the domestic youth champion of the next-ranked entering association.
The UEFA Champions League path groups (drawn on Thursday) will be the same as those for the senior competition. The group winners will progress directly to the round of 16, with the runners-up going into the play-offs.
The domestic champions path teams compete in two rounds of two-legged knockout ties (drawn next Tuesday).
The eventual eight second-round winners progress to the play-offs.
The knockout phase consists of one-off ties starting with the play-offs, where the eight domestic champions path winners will each be at home against one of the eight UEFA Champions League path group runners-up.
The eight play-off winners then join the eight UEFA Champions League path group winners in the round of 16.
The semi-finals and final are, as always, played at Colovray Stadium in UEFA's Swiss home town of Nyon.
Key Dates
UEFA Champions League path: group stage
Matchday 1: 14/15 September
Matchday 2: 28/29 September
Matchday 3: 19/20 October
Matchday 4: 2/3 November
Matchday 5: 23/24 November
Matchday 6: 7/8 December
Domestic champions path
Round 1 first leg: 29 September
Round 1 second leg: 20 October
Round 2 first leg: 3 November
Round 2 second leg: 24 November
Knockout phase
Play-offs: 8/9 February
Knockout draw (round of 16 onwards): 14 February, Nyon
Round of 16: 1/2 March
Quarter-finals: 15/16 March
Semi-finals: 22 April, Colovray Stadium, Nyon
Final: 25 April, Colovray Stadium, Nyon
Keep an eye across our social media pages for the draw next week ahead of a very exciting few months!
Photo credit: Sportsfile
