Celtic are set to be affected after a new format was announced for the UEFA Youth League.
European football’s governing body have confirmed that the format for the Youth League will change from the start of the 2024/25 season.
The change was expected given that UEFA are moving away from the traditional group stage in all of their club competitions from the season after next.
While plans for the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League have been known for some time, the future of the Youth League was only made public yesterday.
The new format was revealed in a statement by UEFA, and you may find it a little confusing.
The bit that seems to concern Celtic most reads: “The competition will adapt to the format change of the senior UEFA club competitions and include the 36 youth teams of the clubs which qualify for the league phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (Champions League path).”
Put simply, the Youth League will be adopting the ‘swiss system’ where all 36 teams form one giant league table.
If we qualify for the Champions League, then our youth side will also participate in the Youth League, just like last season.
There is also a ‘Domestic Champions Path’ which may cover us in the event of the first-team not being in the Champions League. The Scottish under-18s league has been used for that before, with Hamilton Accies the current champions.
UEFA also say the league stage will “mirror the UEFA Champions League but limited to the first six matchdays, with the same matches played in both competitions.”
So, if the first-team are playing AC Milan at home, then the young Celts will be doing the same. But only for six fixtures rather than the first-team’s eight.
We finished bottom of our Youth League group last season, losing five of our six matches and only beating RB Leipzig on matchday three. (UEFA)
Continuing to play at that level, and against a greater variation of teams, can only be good for our stars of the future.
In other news, Celtic will no longer be playing Wolves in South Korea next month
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