Who Hibs could face next in the UEFA Youth League as big guns line up for play-off round

Hibs are through to the play-off round of the UEFA Youth League after eliminating Molde of Norway on penalties in the first round and recording a 3-1 aggregate victory over French side Nantes in round two.

The first two round of the Domestic Champions section of the Youth League were two-legged affairs but the play-off round is a single match which will be played at Easter Road in February. Hibs will find out their opponents on November 8, when the draw is made in Nyon at UEFA headquarters and will hope to attract another big crowd at Easter Road on February 7 or 8 next year.

The young Hibees will face one of the eight teams who finished as group runners-up in the UEFA Champions League path. This section mirrors the senior Champions League groupings, with the youth teams playing each other home and away with the winners qualifying for the round of 16 and the teams finishing second entering the play-offs.

The eight teams to finish second are Ajax, Porto, Internazionale, Eintracht Frankfurt, Red Bull Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, and Juventus. Of those eight, only Shakhtar are ranked lower than Hibs in terms of country co-efficient. The descending ranking is Internazionale, Juventus, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Porto, Ajax, Salzburg, and Shakhtar.

Salzburg (2016/17) and Porto (2018/19) have both won the Youth League while Shakhtar (2014/15), and Salzburg again (2021/22) have finished runners-up. Porto (2017/18), Ajax and Salzburg (both 2019/20) and Juventus (2021/22) have all been beaten semi-finalists.

Ajax won four of their six group matches (beating Rangers twice, and Liverpool and Napoli once each), scoring 17 and conceding ten. Porto also won four of their group games (home and away wins against Bayer Leverkusen and Club Brugge) with 11 goals scored and seven conceded.

Internazionale and Shakhtar qualified despite finishing with a negative goal difference while Salzburg and Dortmund both finished with 2-2-2 records.

Juventus netted 17 goals and conceded 14 as they won three of their six group games and scored three goals in injury time to record a 4-4 draw with Paris Saint-Germain in the final round of games. Frankfurt defeated Spurs twice and Marseille once to reach the play-offs.

The Hibs Under-19 team line up ahead of the victory over Nantes at the Stade Marcel-Saupin. Picture: Nicolas Louerat

It’s worth pointing out that Nantes were heavily fancied to beat Hibs and didn’t, and not every side in the Youth League regularly plays in an under-19 league. Juventus and Internazionale both play in the Campionato Primavera 1 – the Turin-based giants top the league with 23 points from ten games but Inter currently sit second-bottom with just one victory from ten games. Shakhtar are fifth in the Ukrainian Under-19 league with five wins from eight games, while Porto have nine wins in 12 in the Campeonato Nacional de Juniores.

Frankfurt, meanwhile, occupy 13th spot (of 17 teams) in the South/Southwest division of the U-19 Bundesliga in Germany. Salzburg and Ajax, like Hibs, don’t currently compete in an under-19 league.

Shakhtar are the only club placed lower than Hibs in terms of country co-efficient but as mentioned a higher ranking didn’t do Nantes any favours. Hibs should have a good chance in a one-off game on home soil no matter who they face but Easter Road may turn out to be Hibs’ secret weapon if other clubs are used to playing on artificial turf in smaller arenas.