UEFA Youth League round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final draws

The 2025/26 UEFA Youth League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws took place from 13:00 CET on Friday 6 February at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.

ROUND OF 16 DRAW 
Number of teams involved: 16
Number of matches: 8 x 1
Planned match dates: 24/25 February 2026
Match dates and kick-off times to be announced by: 9 February 2026 (12:00 CET)

QUARTER-FINALS
Planned match dates: 17/18 March 2026

SEMI-FINALS
Match date: 17 April 2026

FINAL
Match date: 20 April 2026

Based on Article 19 of the UEFA Youth League Regulations (UYL Regulations), the following draw procedure was adopted by the Club Competitions Committee. Furthermore, the following paragraphs of the UYL Regulations were applicable to the draw.

Match system

20.01: "Phase two of the competition is played in single-leg knockout matches in accordance with Article 21."

20.02: "The four winners of the quarter-finals contest the semi-finals, which are played at a neutral venue."

20.03: "The two winners of the semi-finals play the final in a single match at a neutral venue, in principle the same venue as for the semi-finals."

Draw system and conditions

19.03: "The fixtures for the round of 16 are determined by means of a draw, in accordance with the following principles:

• The 16 winners of the round of 32 qualify for the round of 16.

• In principle, clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

• In principle, the club drawn first in each tie plays the round at home."

19.04: "The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final pairings are determined according to Annex B. A draw is conducted to determine which team plays at home for the quarter-finals."

DRAW PROCEDURE

Round of 16

One bowl was prepared for the draw, with the balls containing the names of the 16 teams placed in this bowl initially, where they were shuffled. One ball was drawn and opened to reveal the team.

The team displayed was allocated to the first available spot in the bracket (i.e. the home position of match 1). A second ball was then drawn from the bowl in the same way and allocated to the next available spot in the bracket (the away position of match 1). The process continued in the same way with the remaining balls in the bowl to place all teams into the bracket from match 2 to match 8.

Since for this round teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other, in the event that such clubs were drawn against each other, the team drawn would have been immediately moved to the same position in the next available corresponding spot on the opposite side of the bracket (e.g. if the second team drawn into match 1 was from the same association as the first team, the second team would have been moved to the same position in match 2). Another ball would then have been drawn from the bowl to complete the initial match.

If, in drawing the penultimate pairing, it left only two teams to be drawn to the final pairing that would be from the same association, the team drawn second into that penultimate pairing (i.e. the away team) would instead have been moved to the away team position of match 8, and another team would have been drawn instead to complete the penultimate pairing of match 7. The last remaining team would then have been drawn to fill the position of the home team for the final pairing of match 8.

Drawing the teams in this way created the pairings of the round of 16, as well as determining the order of the matches, as the team drawn into the top row of each match pairing in the bracket will play the single-leg tie at home.

Quarter-finals

As the teams were positioned in the bracket by the draw of the round of 16, the ties had already been determined by the position of the teams from that draw. The teams qualifying from the round of 16 follow the path of the bracket until the final.

However, for the quarter-finals, a draw was made to determine which team will host the single-leg tie at home.

Four bowls were prepared for this draw. Each bowl contained two balls representing the winners of the Round of 16 matches from one rung of the bracket, with the balls of the first bowl containing slips of paper marked "Winners of Round of 16 – Match 1" and "Winners of Round of 16 – Match 3", the balls of the second bowl "Winners of Round of 16 – Match 2" and “Winners of Round of 16 – Match 4" and so on to the fourth bowl with the balls containing "Winners of Round of 16 – Match 6" and "Winners of Round of 16 – Match 8".

The draw started by shuffling and then drawing one after another the balls placed in the first bowl. The first ball drawn from this bowl indicated the team which will play the single-tie of the quarter-final at home, and the second ball the team which will play away.

The procedure was repeated with the remaining bowls to determine the order of matches for all the quarter-final pairings.

Semi-finals / Final

As the teams were designated to each side of the bracket by the draw of the round of 16, no draw was made for these rounds. For purely administrative purposes, for the semi-finals the winners of the QF 1 and the winners of the QF 2 were designated as the nominal home team for the semi-finals (neutral venue). Similarly, for the final, the winner of the SF1 will for administrative purposes be considered as the nominal home team for the final.

Participants

AZ Alkmaar (NED)
SL Benfica (POR)
Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Club Brugge KV (BEL)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
HJK Helsinki (FIN)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Real Betis Balompié (ESP)
Real Madrid C.F. (ESP)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
Villarreal CF (ESP)
MŠK Žilina (SVK)

Calendar elaboration

22.04: "For phase two of the competition, [...], round of 16 matches and quarter-finals are played in the matchweeks indicated in Annex C. If there is no common agreement on the date of a specific match, the match is played on the Wednesday (subject to Paragraph 22.08)."

22.06: "The match dates for […] the round of 16 and the quarter-finals must be announced to opponents and the UEFA administration by the deadline communicated in due course by the UEFA administration. Upon reasoned request, changes may be made after these deadlines if both clubs concerned and the UEFA administration agree."

22.07: "If both clubs and the UEFA administration agree, […], round of 16 matches and quarter-finals may also be played on other dates, provided they are completed before the following dates:

a) [...]

b) round of 16: 26 February 2026;

c) quarter-finals: 19 March 2026."

22.08: "UEFA decides on the date of the semi-finals and final, as well as on the date of matches that are televised (after consultation with the two teams) or on any other match date, if circumstances so require."

23.06: "Kick-off times must be announced using the dedicated online tool by the deadline set by the UEFA administration."

23.07: "The home club decides the kick-off times of non-televised matches, in consultation with the visiting club. UEFA reserves the right to decide on the kick-off times of televised matches after consulting with both clubs involved. UEFA sets the kick-off times for the semi-finals and the final."