The 2016–17 UEFA Youth League was the fourth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

2016–17 UEFA Youth League

The Colovray Stadium in Nyon hosted the semi-finals and final.
Tournament details
Dates	13 September 2016 – 24 April 2017
Teams	64 (from 40 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Red Bull Salzburg (1st title)
Runners-up	Benfica
Tournament statistics
Matches played	167
Goals scored	550 (3.29 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jordi Mboula Kaj Sierhuis (8 goals each)
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

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Chelsea were the title holders after winning the previous two editions. However, since the UEFA Youth League title holders were not given an automatic qualifying place, and both the Chelsea senior team failed to qualify for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League and the Chelsea academy team failed to win the 2015–16 Professional U18 Development League 1, they did not qualify for this tournament to defend their title.^[1]

Red Bull Salzburg won their first title after defeating Benfica 2–1 in the final. This was the first occasion that the winner (or a finalist) had come through the Domestic Champions Path of the competition and as of 2022 the only season not to won by a side whom previously have won a European trophy.

A total of 64 teams from 40 of the 55 UEFA member associations entered the tournament, with Macedonia, Republic of Ireland and Montenegro entering for the first time.^[2] They were split into two sections:^[3]

• The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Champions League Path.
• The youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path. Associations without a youth domestic champion as well as domestic champions already included in the UEFA Champions League path were replaced by the next association in the UEFA ranking.^[4][5]

More information Rank, Association ...

Rank	Association	Teams
		UEFA Champions League Path	Domestic Champions Path
1	Spain	Barcelona Real Madrid Atlético Madrid Sevilla	Málaga (2015–16 División de Honor Juvenil U19)[6]
2	England	Leicester City Arsenal Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City[†] (2015–16 Professional U18 Development League 1)[7]
3	Germany	Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund[†] (2015–16 U19 Bundesliga)[8] Bayer Leverkusen Borussia Mönchengladbach
4	Italy	Juventus Napoli	Roma (2015–16 Campionato Primavera U19)[9]
5	Portugal	Benfica Sporting CP Porto[†] (2015–16 Campeonato Nacional Juniores S19)[10]
6	France	Paris Saint-Germain[†] (2015–16 Championnat National U19)[11] Lyon Monaco
7	Russia	CSKA Moscow Rostov	Dynamo Moscow (2015 U17 RFS Cup)[12]
8	Ukraine	Dynamo Kyiv[†] (2015–16 Ukrainian U19 League)[13]
9	Netherlands	PSV Eindhoven	Ajax (2015–16 U19 Eredivisie)[14]
10	Belgium	Club Brugge	Anderlecht (2015–16 Belgian U17 League)[15]
11	Switzerland	Basel	Zürich (2015–16 Swiss U18 League)[16]
12	Turkey	Beşiktaş	Altınordu (2016 U19 Süper Kupa)[17]
13	Greece		PAOK (2015–16 Superleague K17)[18]
14	Czech Republic		Sparta Prague (2015–16 Czech U19 League)[19]
15	Romania		Viitorul Constanța (2015–16 Romanian U19 League)[20]
16	Austria		Red Bull Salzburg (2015–16 U18 Jugendliga)[21]
17	Croatia	Dinamo Zagreb[†] (2015–16 1. HNL Juniori U19)[22]
18	Cyprus		APOEL (2015–16 Cypriot U17 League)[23]
19	Poland	Legia Warsaw[†] (2015–16 Central Junior League U19)[24]
20	Israel		Maccabi Haifa (2015–16 Israeli U19 Premier League)[25]
21	Belarus		Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2015–16 Belarusian U19 League)[26]
22	Denmark	Copenhagen	Midtjylland (2015–16 U19 Ligaen)[27]
23	Scotland	Celtic[†] (2015–16 Scottish U17 League)[28]
24	Sweden		AIK (2015 Swedish U17 League)[29]
25	Bulgaria	Ludogorets Razgrad	Levski Sofia (2016 U18 BFU Cup)[Note BUL]
26	Norway		Rosenborg (2015 Norwegian U19 Cup)[30]
27	Serbia		Čukarički (2015–16 Serbian U19 League)[31]
28	Slovenia		Domžale (2015–16 Slovenian U19 League)[32]
29	Azerbaijan		Gabala (2015–16 Azerbaijani U19 League)[33]
30	Slovakia		Nitra (2015–16 Slovak U19 League)[34]
31	Hungary		Puskás Akadémia (2015–16 Hungarian U19 League)[35]
32	Kazakhstan		Kairat (2015 Kazakhstani U18 League)[36]
33	Moldova		Sheriff Tiraspol (2015–16 Divizia Națională U18)[37]
34	Georgia		Dinamo Tbilisi (2015–16 Georgian U18 League)[38]
35	Finland		HJK (2015 U17 B-Junior League)[39]
36	Iceland		Breiðablik (2015 Icelandic U19 League)[40]
37	Bosnia and Herzegovina		Zrinjski Mostar (2015–16 Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 Junior League)[41]
39	Macedonia		Vardar (2015–16 Macedonian U19 League)[42]
40	Republic of Ireland		Cork City (2015 League of Ireland U19 Division)[43][44][45]
41	Montenegro		Mladost Podgorica (2015–16 Montenegrin U19 League)[46]
Associations which did not enter a team (no teams qualified for UEFA Champions League group stage, and association either not ranked high enough or no youth domestic competition)
38	Liechtenstein		No youth domestic competition
42	Albania
43	Luxembourg
44	Northern Ireland
45	Lithuania
46	Latvia
47	Malta
48	Estonia
49	Faroe Islands
50	Wales
51	Armenia
52	Andorra
53	San Marino
54	Gibraltar
55	Kosovo

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Notes

Players had to be born on or after 1 January 1998, with a maximum of three players per team born between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 1997 are allowed.

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[3]

Notes

• For the UEFA Champions League Path group stage, in principle the teams play their matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the same day as the corresponding senior teams in the UEFA Champions League; however, matches may 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; however, matches may also be played on other dates, including Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• For the play-offs, round of 16 and quarter-finals, in principle matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; however, matches may also be played on other dates, provided they are completed before the following dates:
  • Play-offs: 10 February 2017
  • Round of 16: 24 February 2017
  • Quarter-finals: 17 March 2017

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 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 25 August 2016, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.^[48][49]

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight group winners advance to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advance to the play-offs, where they are joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path. The matchdays are 13–14 September, 27–28 September, 18–19 October, 1–2 November, 22–23 November, and 6–7 December 2016.

Group A

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSG	BAS	ARS	LUD
1	Paris Saint-Germain	6	4	2	0	21	7	+14	14	Advance to round of 16		—	4–1	0–0	4–1
2	Basel	6	3	1	2	11	9	+2	10	Advance to play-offs		2–3	—	1–1	1–0
3	Arsenal	6	1	4	1	8	6	+2	7			2–2	1–2	—	3–0
4	Ludogorets Razgrad	6	0	1	5	3	21	−18	1			1–8	0–4	1–1	—

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Source: UEFA

Group B

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DKV	SLB	NAP	BES
1	Dynamo Kyiv	6	5	1	0	16	7	+9	16	Advance to round of 16		—	2–1	4–1	3–1
2	Benfica	6	3	1	2	10	6	+4	10	Advance to play-offs		1–2	—	2–0	0–0
3	Napoli	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	4			0–2	2–3	—	2–2
4	Beşiktaş	6	0	3	3	6	12	−6	3			3–3	0–3	0–1	—

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Source: UEFA

Group C

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	MCI	MGL	CEL
1	Barcelona	6	5	0	1	13	5	+8	15	Advance to round of 16		—	1–0	1–2	2–1
2	Manchester City	6	4	0	2	13	7	+6	12	Advance to play-offs		0–2	—	4–1	3–2
3	Borussia Mönchengladbach	6	2	1	3	10	12	−2	7			1–3	1–2	—	4–1
4	Celtic	6	0	1	5	6	18	−12	1			1–4	0–4	1–1	—

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Source: UEFA

Group D

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSV	ATL	BAY	ROS
1	PSV Eindhoven	6	4	1	1	16	2	+14	13	Advance to round of 16		—	0–0	2–0	6–0
2	Atlético Madrid	6	3	2	1	8	5	+3	11	Advance to play-offs		2–0	—	1–3	1–0
3	Bayern Munich	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10			0–2	1–1	—	4–2
4	Rostov	6	0	0	6	3	21	−18	0			0–6	1–3	0–1	—

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Source: UEFA

Group E

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CSM	MON	BLV	TOT
1	CSKA Moscow	6	4	1	1	15	6	+9	13	Advance to round of 16		—	4–1	2–1	3–2
2	Monaco	6	4	0	2	10	14	−4	12	Advance to play-offs		0–5	—	2–1	2–1
3	Bayer Leverkusen	6	2	0	4	9	10	−1	6			2–1	1–2	—	3–1
4	Tottenham Hotspur	6	1	1	4	8	12	−4	4			0–0	2–3	2–1	—

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Source: UEFA

Group F

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RMA	DOR	SCP	LEG
1	Real Madrid	6	4	1	1	15	10	+5	13	Advance to round of 16		—	1–3	1–1	3–2
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	2	2	2	11	11	0	8	Advance to play-offs		2–5	—	0–1	3–3
3	Sporting CP	6	1	3	2	6	9	−3	6			1–3	1–1	—	2–2
4	Legia Warsaw	6	1	2	3	10	12	−2	5			1–2	0–2	2–0	—

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Source: UEFA

Group G

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POR	COP	CLU	LEI
1	Porto	6	4	0	2	12	8	+4	12	Advance to round of 16		—	4–1	1–3	2–1
2	Copenhagen	6	3	1	2	12	10	+2	10	Advance to play-offs		3–1	—	0–0	3–2
3	Club Brugge	6	3	1	2	8	9	−1	10			0–2	0–3	—	2–1
4	Leicester City	6	1	0	5	9	14	−5	3			0–2	3–2	2–3	—

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Source: UEFA

Group H

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SEV	JUV	OLY	DZG
1	Sevilla	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10	Advance to round of 16		—	0–2	2–1	1–1
2	Juventus	6	3	0	3	8	5	+3	9	Advance to play-offs		2–1	—	0–1	0–1
3	Lyon	6	3	0	3	6	7	−1	9			0–1	0–3	—	2–0
4	Dinamo Zagreb	6	2	1	3	7	10	−3	7			2–4	2–1	1–2	—

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Source: UEFA

For the Domestic Champions Path, the 32 teams were drawn into two rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties. The draw was held on 30 August 2016, 13:45 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[50][51] There were no seedings, but the 32 teams were split into four groups defined by sporting and geographical criteria prior to the draw.^[52]

The eight second round winners advance to the play-offs, where they are joined by the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path. If the aggregate scores are level after full-time of the second leg, the away goals rule is used to decide the winner. If still tied, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played).^[3]

First round

The first legs were played on 21, 27, 28, 29 September and 5 October, and the second legs were played on 19 October 2016.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Nitra	2–8	Málaga	2–3	0–5
Puskás Akadémia	1–1 (a)	PAOK	1–1	0–0
APOEL	1–9	Roma	0–3	1–6
Domžale	2–5	Čukarički	1–1	1–4
Breiðablik	0–7	Ajax	0–3	0–4
HJK	0–1	Cork City	0–0	0–1
Anderlecht	1–3	Midtjylland	0–0	1–3
Rosenborg	3–1	AIK	0–0	3–1
Viitorul Constanța	5–1	Sheriff Tiraspol	4–1	1–0
Zrinjski Mostar	0–9	Zürich	0–3	0–6
Red Bull Salzburg	8–0	Vardar	5–0	3–0
Sparta Prague	9–0	Mladost Podgorica	4–0	5–0
Gabala	0–7	Dynamo Moscow	0–2	0–5
Maccabi Haifa	8–2	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	5–0	3–2
Dinamo Tbilisi	1–8	Kairat	0–3	1–5
Altınordu	6–1	Levski Sofia	5–0	1–1

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Second round

The first legs were played on 2, 9 and 16 November, and the second legs were played on 22, 23 and 30 November 2016.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
PAOK	1–4	Ajax	0–2	1–2
Cork City	1–4[A]	Roma	1–3	0–1
Málaga	2–4	Midtjylland	2–0	0–4
Rosenborg	2–1	Čukarički	0–1	2–0
Altınordu	8–5	Sparta Prague	6–2	2–3
Viitorul Constanța	5–2	Zürich	5–0	0–2
Maccabi Haifa	1–1 (a)	Dynamo Moscow	0–0	1–1
Red Bull Salzburg	9–1	Kairat	8–1	1–0

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Notes

1. ^
   Order of legs reversed after original draw.

For the play-offs, the 16 teams were drawn into eight ties played over one match. The draw was held on 12 December 2016, 14:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[53][54] 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 eight play-off winners advance to the round of 16, where they are joined by the eight group winners from the UEFA Champions League Path. If the scores are level after full-time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played).^[3] The play-offs were played on 7 and 8 February 2017.

More information Team 1, Score ...

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Red Bull Salzburg	1–1 (4–3 p)	Manchester City
Midtjylland	1–1 (5–6 p)	Benfica
Viitorul Constanța	4–2	Copenhagen
Roma	1–2	Monaco
Rosenborg	1–0	Basel
Altınordu	0–2	Atlético Madrid
Maccabi Haifa	0–1	Borussia Dortmund
Ajax	2–0	Juventus

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For the knockout phase (round of 16 onwards), the 16 teams were drawn into a single-elimination tournament, with all ties played over one match. The draw was held on 10 February 2017, 13:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[55][56] The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:

• In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners from the UEFA Champions League Path were drawn against the eight play-off winners. 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. The draw also decided the home team for each round of 16 match.
• 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 draws also decided the home team for each quarter-final, and the "home" team for administrative purposes for each semi-final and final (which were played at a neutral venue).

If the scores were level after full-time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[3]

Bracket (round of 16 onwards)

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

22 February

Monaco

3

8 March

Real Madrid

4

Real Madrid

2

21 February

Ajax

1

Ajax

3

21 April – Nyon

Dynamo Kyiv

0

Real Madrid

2

22 February

Benfica

4

CSKA Moscow

2

7 March

Rosenborg

1

CSKA Moscow

0

21 February

Benfica

2

PSV Eindhoven

1 (4)

24 April – Nyon

Benfica (p)

1 (5)

Benfica

1

22 February

Red Bull Salzburg

2

Barcelona

4

7 March

Borussia Dortmund

1

Barcelona

2

21 February

Porto

1

Porto

3

21 April – Nyon

Viitorul Constanța

0

Barcelona

1

21 February

Red Bull Salzburg

2

Red Bull Salzburg

5

7 March

Paris Saint-Germain

0

Red Bull Salzburg

2

21 February

Atlético Madrid

1

Atlético Madrid

3

Sevilla

2

Round of 16

The round of 16 matches were played on 21 and 22 February 2017.

More information Team 1, Score ...

Team 1	Score	Team 2
CSKA Moscow	2–1	Rosenborg
Atlético Madrid	3–2	Sevilla
Barcelona	4–1	Borussia Dortmund
Ajax	3–0	Dynamo Kyiv
Monaco	3–4	Real Madrid
Red Bull Salzburg	5–0	Paris Saint-Germain
PSV Eindhoven	1–1 (4–5 p)	Benfica
Porto	3–0	Viitorul Constanța

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Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 7 and 8 March 2017.

More information Team 1, Score ...

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Real Madrid	2–1	Ajax
CSKA Moscow	0–2	Benfica
Barcelona	2–1	Porto
Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	Atlético Madrid

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Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 21 April 2017 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon.^[57][58]

More information Team 1, Score ...

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Real Madrid	2–4	Benfica
Barcelona	1–2	Red Bull Salzburg

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Final

The final was played on 24 April 2017 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland.^[57][58]

More information Benfica, 1–2 ...

Benfica	1–2	Red Bull Salzburg
Gomes 29'	Report	Daka 72' Schmidt 76'

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24 April 2017 (2017-04-24)

17:00 CEST

Colovray Stadium, Nyon

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Ali Palabıyık (Turkey)