UEFA Youth League domestic champions path: AZ, Legia into round of 32 so far
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Article summary
AZ Alkmaar and Legia Warszawa are through with eight more round of 32 places to be decided in this path.
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The third and final round of the UEFA Youth League domestic champions path is in progress with AZ Alkmaar and Legia Warszawa going through on Tuesday and the remaining eight second legs on Wednesday.
Ten places are on offer in the round of 32, with the domestic champions path qualifiers to be drawn at home to the clubs finishing between seventh and 16th place in the league phase.
AZ, who won the competition after beginning in this path in 2022/23 and reached the semi-finals last season, booked their last-32 spot with a 2-1 comeback win against Aston Villa to go through 4-3 on aggregate. Tycho de Wit got the winner having also scored in the first leg, in which twin brother Hessel de Wit made it 2-2 in the 89th minute.
Also on Tuesday, Legia became the first Polish team to make the post-New Year phase of the UEFA Youth League after eliminating PAOK.
The other eight ties end on Wednesday. The other winners involved in the third round, Porto, face a tough task to progress after losing 4-0 at home to Real Betis.
Midtjylland, aiming to get past the domestic champions path for the eighth time in as many attempts, drew their first leg 1-1 away to Köln. Crvena Zvezda, Dinamo Tbilisi, Dynamo Kyiv, HJK Helsinki, Maccabi Haifa and Puskás Akadémia defend leads.
Trabzonspor reached the 2024/25 final from the domestic champions path but fell after entering in the second round this time, losing 1-0 at home to HJK, who had equalised in the 90th minute to make it 2-2 in the first leg.
Progressing from the first round before being eliminated in the second were teams including debutants KA Akureyri, Shelbourne, Skënderbeu and Víkingur, the latter thanks to a second-leg comeback, earning a maiden success for the Faroe Islands in this competition. Lincoln Red Imps secured Gibraltar's first victories in the UEFA Youth League, beating Naxxar Lions home and away.
In all, 50 clubs entered the tournament in this path, with ten teams eventually due to emerge to join the top 22 sides in the UEFA Champions League path in the round of 32. Twenty clubs took part in the ten first-round ties, and the winners of those contests joined the 30 teams beginning in the second round.
Third round fixtures and results
All times CET
Second legs
Tuesday 9 December
PAOK 1-2 Legia Warszawa (agg: 2-4)
AZ Alkmaar 2-1 Aston Villa (agg: 4-3)
Wednesday 10 December
Midtjylland vs Köln (13:30, first leg: 1-1)
Dinamo Tbilisi vs Dinamo-Minsk (14:00, first leg: 2-0)
Real Betis vs Porto (16:00, first leg: 4-0)
Žilina vs Crvena Zvezda (16:30, first leg: 1-3)
Puskás Akadémia vs FCSB (16:30, first leg: 2-1)
Nantes vs Maccabi Haifa (17:00, first leg: 0-1)
Genk vs HJK Helsinki (18:00, first leg: 0-1)
Hibernian vs Dynamo Kyiv (20:00, first leg: 0-1)
First legs
Friday 5 December
Dinamo-Minsk 0-2 Dinamo Tbilisi
Wednesday 26 November
Crvena Zvezda 3-1 Žilina
Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Hibernian
Aston Villa 2-2 AZ Alkmaar
Porto 0-4 Real Betis
FCSB 1-2 Puskás Akadémia
Maccabi Haifa 1-0 Nantes
HJK Helsinki 1-0 Genk
Köln 1-1 Midtjylland
Tuesday 25 November
Team guide
- AZ and Porto are former winners. AZ started in the domestic champions path when they won in 2022/23 and also when they reached last season's semi-finals, as did Nantes when making that stage in 2023/24.
- Dinamo-Minsk, FCSB, HJK, Legia and Köln began the third round hoping to get to the post-New Year knockout phase for the first time.
- AZ, Dynamo Kyiv, Midtjylland, Puskás Akadémia and Real Betis all came through the first domestic champions path in this format last season. Genk and Legia Warszawa lost in the third round.
- Midtjylland have come through the domestic champions path a record seven times from as many attempts.
Second round results
Second legs
Wednesday 5 November
Crvena Zvezda 4-1 Baník Ostrava (agg: 4-1)
FCSB 3-2 Lokomotiva Zagreb (agg: 6-4)
2 Korriuku 1-0 Hibernian (agg: 1-4)
Sabah 1-2 Nantes (agg: 1-7)
Aston Villa 6-0 Skënderbeu (agg: 7-1)
Dinamo Tbilisi 2-0 AEK Larnaca (agg: 6-3)
Fiorentina 3-2 Legia Warszawa (agg: 4-6)
Maccabi Haifa 3-1 Austria Wien (agg: 4-2)
Porto 4-1 Bravo (agg: 8-1)
Real Betis 2-0 Basel (agg: 4-3)
Trabzonspor 0-1 HJK Helsinki (agg: 2-3)
PAOK 2-0 KA Akureyri (agg: 4-0)
Puskás Akadémia 0-0 Brann (agg: 1-1, Puskás Akadémia win 3-1 on penalties)
Ludogorets 0-2 Dinamo-Minsk (agg: 1-2)
Budućnost Podgorica 1-5 Midtjylland (agg: 1-8)
Köln 2-1 Racing Union Luxembourg (agg: 5-1)
Brommapojkarna 1-2 Dynamo Kyiv (agg: 1-3)
Shelbourne 0-0 Žilina (agg: 2-2, Žilina win 2-0 on penalties)
Tuesday 4 November
Genk 3-1 Víkingur (agg: 11-1)
Lincoln Red Imps 0-5 AZ Alkmaar (agg: 0-9)
First legs
Saturday 1 November
Thursday 23 October
Wednesday 22 October
Legia Warszawa 4-1 Fiorentina
Lokomotiva Zagreb 2-3 FCSB
Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Brommapojkarna
AEK Larnaca 3-4 Dinamo Tbilisi
Midtjylland 3-0 Budućnost Podgorica
Baník Ostrava 0-0 Crvena Zvezda
Austria Wien 1-1 Maccabi Haifa
KA Akureyri 0-2 PAOK
Žilina 2-2 Shelbourne
Nantes 5-0 Sabah
Bravo 0-4 Porto
Brann 1-1 Puskás Akadémia
Racing Union Luxembourg 0-3 Köln
Basel 3-2 Real Betis
Hibernian 4-0 2 Korriku
Víkingur 0-8 Genk
Tuesday 21 October
Skënderbeu 1-1 Aston Villa
AZ Alkmaar 4-0 Lincoln Red Imps
Team guide
- In the second round, AEK Larnaca, Baník Ostrava, Bravo, Brommapojkarna and Fiorentina all made competition debuts.
- Austria Wien and FCSB enter for the first time since the inaugural 2013/14 season (Austria Wien made the round of 16; FCSB went out in the group stage).
- Also starting in the second round were 2024/25 runners-up Trabzonspor and former winners AZ and Porto. Trabzonspor reached the final last season from the domestic champions path, as did AZ when they won the competition in 2022/23.
- FCSB, Köln and Sabah were aiming to get through a stage for the first time.
- Dinamo-Minsk also knocked out Ludogorets in this path in 2023/24.
First round results
Second legs
Wednesday 1 October
KA Akureyri 1-0 Jelgava (agg: 3-2)
Rabotnicki 1-7 Shelbourne (agg: 1-12)
Skënderbeu 5-0 Inter Escaldes (agg: 15-0)
HJK Helsinki 4-0 Be1 NFA (agg: 5-1)
Dinamo Tbilisi 3-0 Zrinjski (agg: 4-1)
Racing Union Luxembourg 3-1 Larne (agg: 3-3, Racing Union win 5-4 on penalties)
Lincoln Red Imps 4-1 Naxxar Lions (agg: 6-1)
Víkingur 4-1 Narva Trans (agg: 4-2)
Tuesday 30 September
Dinamo-Minsk 2-0 Ordabasy (agg: 3-1)
Budućnost Podgorica 2-1 Haverfordwest County (agg: 5-3)
First legs
Friday 26 September
Thursday 18 September
Wednesday 17 September
Inter Escaldes 0-10 Skënderbeu
Jelgava 2-2 KA Akureyri
Naxxar Lions 0-2 Lincoln Red Imps
Be1 NFA 1-1 HJK Helsinki
Zrinjski Mostar 1-1 Dinamo Tbilisi
Larne 2-0 Racing Union Luxembourg
Shelbourne 5-0 Rabotnicki
Haverfordwest County 2-3 Budućnost Podgorica
- Be1 NFA, Haverfordwest County, Inter Escaldes, KA Akureyri, Larne, Narva Trans, Naxxar Lions, Odabasy, Rabotnicki, Shelbourne, Skënderbeu and Víkingur were making their UEFA Youth League debuts in the first round. It was Be1 NFA and Naxxar Lions' first club appearances in any UEFA competition.
- Dinamo Tbilisi, Jelgava, Lincoln Red Imps and Racing Union were aiming to get through a UEFA Youth League round for the first time.
UEFA Youth League knockout phase: Road to Nyon
Round of 32 draw: 12 December, Nyon
Round of 32: 3/4 February
Knockout draw (round of 16 onwards): 6 February, Nyon
Round of 16: 24/25 February
Quarter-finals: 17/18 March
Semi-finals: 17 April (Colovray Sports Centre, Nyon)
Final: 20 April (Colovray Sports Centre, Nyon)
