Portuguese side Benfica won their first title, beating Red Bull Salzburg 6–0 in the final. This was a replay of the 2017 final, won by Salzburg by 2–1. It was also Benfica's first title in European football since the 1961–62 European Cup.
As champions, Benfica, played against the CONMEBOL champion, Peñarol, for the new U-20 Intercontinental Cup, a youth team equivalent to the former Intercontinental Cup, which featured the senior club champions of Europe and South America. Benfica won the match 1–0.
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.
UEFA Champions League Path: The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2021–22 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 2021 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path.[1] 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.
Associations without any participating teams (no teams qualify for UEFA Champions League group stage, and either with no youth domestic competition or not ranked high enough for a vacancy)
Belgium (BEL): The 2020–21 Belgian U18 League was abandoned and 2020–21 Belgium Youth Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium. Genk, which were originally selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League (which was later cancelled) by the Royal Belgian Football Association in the Domestic Champions Path, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path.
France (FRA): The 2020–21 Championnat National U19 was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France.[11]Angers, which were originally selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League (which was later cancelled) by the French Football Federation in the Domestic Champions Path, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path.[12]
Germany (GER): The 2020–21 U19 A-Junioren-Bundesliga was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[13]1. FC Köln, which were originally selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League (which was later cancelled) by the German Football Association in the Domestic Champions Path, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path.[14]
Netherlands (NED): The 2020–21 Eredivisie U19 was abandoned and the 2020–21 KNVB Youth Cup was not completed by the UEFA registration deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. AZ, which were originally selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League (which was later cancelled) by the Royal Dutch Football Association in the Domestic Champions Path, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path.
Portugal (POR): The 2020–21 Campeonato Nacional Juniores S19 was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Benfica, which were originally selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Youth League (which was later cancelled) by the Portuguese Football Federation in the Domestic Champions Path, would have been selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path, but since their senior team qualified for the Champions League group stage via play-offs, they qualified for the UEFA Champions League Path, so no team was selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League in the Domestic Champions Path.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[2]
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 could 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 (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 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 2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 26 August 2021, 18:00 CEST (19:00 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.[15]
In each group, teams played 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 will join by the eight second round winners from the 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 31 August 2021.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the play-offs, 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.
In the draw for the round of 16, the UEFA Champions League Path group winners were drawn against the play-off winners, with the first team drawn in each tie hosting the match. 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.
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).
The draw was conducted on 14 December 2021 12:00 CET at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The play-offs were played over one leg on 8 and 9 February 2022.
The draw was conducted on 14 February 2022 12:00 CET at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The round of 16 was played over one leg on 1 March, 2 March and 7 April 2022.[16]
The draw was conducted on 14 February 2022 12:00 CET at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The quarter-finals were played over one leg from 15 March to 13 April 2022.[16]
The draw was conducted on 14 February 2022 12:00 CET at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The semi-finals were played over one leg on 22 April 2022 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.[16]
The draw was conducted on 14 February 2022 12:00 CET at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The final was played on 25 April 2022 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.[16]
This was a replay of the 2017 UEFA Youth League Final, which Salzburg won 2–1. Benfica won 6–0 to win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the 1961–62 European Cup.
