2014–15 UEFA Youth League

2014–15 UEFA Youth League

The Colovray Stadium in Nyon hosted the semi-finals and final.
Tournament details
Dates	16 September 2014 – 13 April 2015
Teams	32 (from 18 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Chelsea (1st title)
Runners-up	Shakhtar Donetsk
Tournament statistics
Matches played	111
Goals scored	397 (3.58 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Dominic Solanke (12 goals)
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The 2014–15 UEFA Youth League was the second season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. It was contested by the under-19 youth teams of the 32 clubs qualified for the group stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.^[1]

The final was played on 13 April 2015 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea. Chelsea won 3–2 and secured their first title in the competition. Barcelona were the title holders, but were eliminated by Anderlecht in the round of 16.

Players must be born on or after 1 January 1996.^[1]

Teams

The youth teams of the 32 clubs which participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the competition.

Association	Teams
Spain	Real Madrid Atlético Madrid Barcelona Athletic Bilbao
England	Manchester City Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal
Germany	Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund Schalke 04 Bayer Leverkusen
Italy	Juventus Roma
Portugal	Benfica Sporting CP Porto
France	Paris Saint-Germain Monaco
Ukraine	Shakhtar Donetsk
Russia	CSKA Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg
Netherlands	Ajax
Turkey	Galatasaray
Belgium	Anderlecht
Greece	Olympiacos
Switzerland	Basel
Cyprus	APOEL
Belarus	BATE Borisov
Sweden	Malmö FF
Bulgaria	Ludogorets Razgrad
Slovenia	Maribor

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[2][3]

Phase	Round	Draw date	Match date(s)
Group stage	Matchday 1	28 August 2014 (Monaco)	16–18 September 2014
	Matchday 2		30 September–2 October 2014
	Matchday 3		21–23 October 2014
	Matchday 4		4–6 November 2014
	Matchday 5		25–27 November 2014
	Matchday 6		9–11 December 2014
Knockout phase	Round of 16	15 December 2014 (Nyon)	17–18 & 24–25 February 2015
	Quarter-finals		10–11 & 17–18 March 2015
	Semi-finals		10 April 2015 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon
	Final		13 April 2015 at Colovray Stadium, Nyon

Note: Round of 16 and quarter-final matches may be played outside of the scheduled dates.

On 23 September 2014, UEFA announced a change to the schedule of the semi-finals and finals, which were originally due to take place on 24 and 27 April respectively.^[4]

Group stage

The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the group compositions being the same as in the draw for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 28 August 2014, 17:45 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.^[2][5][6]

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays were 16–18 September, 30 September–2 October, 21–23 October, 4–6 November, 25–27 November, and 9–11 December 2014, with the matches played on the same matchday as the corresponding Champions League matches, but not necessarily on the same day. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:^[1]

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
5. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4 to several teams, two teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 9 applied;
6. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
7. higher number of goals scored from all group matches played;
8. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received during the group stage (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
9. drawing of lots.

Times up to 25 October 2014 (matchdays 1–3) were CEST (UTC+2), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times were CET (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Madrid	6	5	0	1	11	5	+6	15	Advance to knockout phase
2	Olympiacos	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13
3	Juventus	6	1	2	3	5	10	−5	5
4	Malmö FF	6	0	1	5	5	14	−9	1

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Real Madrid	6	4	0	2	19	7	+12	12	Advance to knockout phase
2	Liverpool	6	4	0	2	16	9	+7	12
3	Basel	6	4	0	2	17	9	+8	12
4	Ludogorets Razgrad	6	0	0	6	0	27	−27	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Benfica	6	4	1	1	12	8	+4	13	Advance to knockout phase
2	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10
3	Bayer Leverkusen	6	2	0	4	12	14	−2	6
4	Monaco	6	2	0	4	7	12	−5	6

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Anderlecht	6	4	1	1	15	8	+7	13	Advance to knockout phase
2	Arsenal	6	4	0	2	15	8	+7	12
3	Galatasaray	6	2	0	4	10	18	−8	6
4	Borussia Dortmund	6	1	1	4	8	14	−6	4

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The match was abandoned at the 90+5th minute, with Anderlecht leading 2–0, due to Turkish fans setting off fireworks and throwing objects. UEFA ruled the match as a forfeit by Galatasaray and awarded Anderlecht a 3–0 win.^[9][10]

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Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester City	6	6	0	0	22	4	+18	18	Advance to knockout phase
2	Roma	6	3	0	3	9	10	−1	9
3	Bayern Munich	6	2	0	4	8	18	−10	6
4	CSKA Moscow	6	1	0	5	8	15	−7	3

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Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ajax	6	4	2	0	19	7	+12	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Barcelona	6	2	3	1	10	7	+3	9
3	Paris Saint-Germain	6	2	2	2	15	14	+1	8
4	APOEL	6	0	1	5	3	19	−16	1

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Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Chelsea	6	5	0	1	24	3	+21	15	Advance to knockout phase
2	Schalke 04	6	5	0	1	19	7	+12	15
3	Sporting CP	6	2	0	4	8	20	−12	6
4	Maribor	6	0	0	6	4	25	−21	0

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Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	4	2	0	15	3	+12	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Porto	6	2	3	1	7	5	+2	9
3	Athletic Bilbao	6	3	0	3	9	12	−3	9
4	BATE Borisov	6	0	1	5	2	13	−11	1

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Knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over one match. If scores were level after full-time, the match was decided by penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).^[1] The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:

• In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the match. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other.
• In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. The draw 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 on neutral ground).

Bracket

The draw for the knockout phase was held on 15 December 2014, 14:00 CET, at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[2][14][15]

On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries.^[16] Therefore, Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk and Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16. The winners of the ties involving these two clubs could also not be drawn against each other in the quarter-finals.

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Anderlecht	1
	Barcelona	0
					Anderlecht	5
					Porto	0
	Real Madrid	1(1)
	Porto (p)	1(3)
									Anderlecht	1
									Shakhtar Donetsk	3
	Benfica	2
	Liverpool	1
					Benfica	1(4)
					Shakhtar Donetsk (p)	1(5)
	Shakhtar Donetsk (p)	1(5)
	Olympiacos	1(4)
													Shakhtar Donetsk	2
													Chelsea	3
	Ajax	0(5)
	Roma (p)	0(6)
					Roma	2
					Manchester City	1
	Manchester City (p)	1(3)
	Schalke 04	1(1)
									Roma	0
									Chelsea	4
	Chelsea	3
	Zenit Saint Petersburg	1
					Chelsea	2
					Atlético Madrid	0
	Atlético Madrid	1
	Arsenal	0

Times up to 28 March 2015 (round of 16 and quarter-finals) were CET (UTC+1), thereafter (semi-finals and final) times were CEST (UTC+2).

Round of 16

The round of 16 matches were played on 27 January, 17, 23, 24 and 25 February 2015.

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Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 10, 17 and 18 March 2015.

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Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 10 April 2015 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland.

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Final

The final was played on 13 April 2015 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals	Minutes played
1	Dominic Solanke	Chelsea	12	765
2	Aaron Leya Iseka	Anderlecht	9	650
3	Borja Mayoral	Real Madrid	7	552
4	Zakaria El Azzouzi	Ajax	6	188
	Jerome Sinclair	Liverpool	6	604
	Jack Byrne	Manchester City	6	653
7	Nikos Vergos	Olympiacos	5	408
	Leonardo Acevedo	Porto	5	418
	Marc Brašnić	Bayer Leverkusen	5	450
	Daniel Crowley	Arsenal	5	630
	Charlie Colkett	Chelsea	5	889

Source: UEFA.com^[25]

Top assists

Rank	Player	Team	Assists	Minutes played
1	Andy Kawaya	Anderlecht	6	520
2	Arxhend Cani	Basel	5	502
	Yakou Meïté	Paris Saint-Germain	5	540
	João Carvalho	Benfica	5	654
	Izzy Brown	Chelsea	5	744
	Andreas Christensen	Chelsea	5	900
7	Renato Sanches	Benfica	4	438
	Thierry Ambrose	Manchester City	4	703
	Dominic Solanke	Chelsea	4	765
	Denys Arendaruk	Shakhtar Donetsk	4	815
	Charlie Colkett	Chelsea	4	889
	Oleksandr Zubkov	Shakhtar Donetsk	4	897

Source: UEFA.com^[26]

References

External links

• 2014–15 UEFA Youth League
• Final tournament: Nyon 2015
• Final tournament official programme