The 2019–20 UEFA Youth League knockout phase (play-offs and round of 16 onwards) began on 11 February 2020 with the play-off round and will end with the final at Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, to decide the champions of the 2019–20 UEFA Youth League.[1] A total of 24 teams compete in the knockout phase (play-offs and round of 16 onwards).[2]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
The knockout phase (play-offs and round of 16 onwards), played as a single-elimination tournament, involves 24 teams: 16 teams which qualified from the UEFA Champions League Path (eight group winners and eight group runners-up), and eight teams which qualified from the Domestic Champions Path (eight second round winners):[2]
The eight group winners from the UEFA Champions League Path enter the round of 16.
The eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path and the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path enter the play-offs. The eight play-off winners advance to the round of 16.
Each tie is played over a single match. If the score is tied after full-time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played).[2]
Schedule
The schedule is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).[1]
Following the round of 16, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[3][4] A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season.[5]
The draw for the play-offs was held on 16 December 2019, 14:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[6] 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.
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.
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.[7] The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:
In the draw for the round of 16, there are no seedings, and the 16 teams (eight UEFA Champions League Path group winners and eight play-off winners) are drawn into eight ties. Teams from the same UEFA Champions League Path group cannot be drawn against each other, but teams from the same association can be drawn against each other. The draw also decides the home team for each round of 16 match.
In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same UEFA Champions League Path group or the same association can be drawn against each other (the identity of the quarter-final winners and onwards is not known at the time of the draws). The draws also decides the home team for each quarter-final, and which quarter-final and semi-final winners are designated as the "home" team for each semi-final and final (for administrative purposes as they are played at a neutral venue).
Six of the eight round of 16 matches were played on 3, 4 and 10 March 2020, while the remaining two fixtures could not be played when scheduled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[3]
^On 9 March 2020, Internazionale announced that they had suspended all activities of their youth teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, and thus would not play their round of 16 match against Rennes. The match had been cancelled and UEFA will take a decision on the matter.[8]
Real Madrid
Club Brugge
Bayern Munich
Red Star Belgrade
Atalanta
Dinamo Zagreb
Liverpool
Red Bull Salzburg
Benfica
Lyon
Ajax
Sheriff Tiraspol
Midtjylland
Dynamo Kyiv
Rangers
