Youth teams to get ball rolling

Youth teams from FC Bayern München and FC Internazionale Milano will meet in Madrid on Wednesday hoping victory in the UEFA Champions League Under-18 Challenge will augur well for their senior colleagues.

The Estádio Alfredo di Stéfano, which has a capacity of nearly 6,000, will stage the fixture. The match kicks off at 19.00CET and will be covered by UEFA.com and televised live on Eurosport 2. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, the game will go straight to a penalty shoot-out.

UEFA does not stage an official international tournament for club youth teams, though there are UEFA European Championships at U17 and U19 level for national teams. Thus, this is the first youth match organised by UEFA's club competitions department and will provide a unique opportunity for Bayern and Inter's youngsters to compete against foreign opposition.

Given the calibre of the clubs involved, the players that come together on Wednesday for the first time could well meet again in the UEFA Champions League proper or with their senior national teams in years to come.