“Baby Champions League” for Youth Teams?

Not sure is this is an actual story yet, or still just a rumour, but Italian website Datasport is claiming that we’re about to see a “Baby Champions League” where European youth teams would play for a trophy.

According to their report (translated version here) the European Clubs Association met in Geneva and agreed to get this going in the 2010/11 season. Not as a separate competition, but more as a showcase to run alongside the actual UEFA Champions League.

As I understand it, the youth squads of eight Champions League quarter-finalists in 2010/11 will play each other, with the youth matches being played a week earlier than the big boy matches. Then in 2011/12 (again, according to Datasport) the Baby Champions Leauge will be expanded to feature the youth teams of all 32 clubs that make the Champions League group stage.

Obviously the details are unclear. What’s the upper age limit for example? And it seems a little odd that the youth teams only qualify for the tournament as a result of what the seniors do. But still, I can’t help being fairly excited about this. Seeing the next generation of Leo Messis and Mario Balotellis compete against each other has to be a winner, and if it’s anything like the U-20 World Cups then count me in.

The one big potential downside… would this added exposure for youth teams lead to the big European clubs poaching young talent even more aggressively? Expect Lens, Le Havre and other French clubs to add extra security to their youth team facilities.

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Category: Champions League