A total of 64 teams from 39 of the 55 UEFA member associations entered the tournament. They were split into two sections, each with 32 teams.
UEFA Champions League Path: The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Champions League Path. If there was a vacancy (youth teams not entering), it was filled by a team defined by UEFA.
Domestic Champions Path: The youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their 2022 UEFA country coefficients entered the Domestic Champions Path. If there was a vacancy (associations with no youth domestic competition, as well as youth domestic champions already included in the UEFA Champions League path), it was first filled by the title holders should they have not yet qualified, and then by the youth domestic champions of the next association in the UEFA ranking.
Coleraine[V-PO](2021–22 Northern Ireland Academy League U18)
Associations without any participating teams (no teams qualify for UEFA Champions League group stage, and either with no youth domestic competition or not ranked high enough for a vacancy)
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7] On 2 May 2022, UEFA confirmed that Russian clubs would be excluded from the 2022–23 UEFA competitions.[8]
Kazakhstan (KAZ): The 2021 Kazakhstan Youth Cup were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan. The top teams of the two leagues at the time of the abandonment. Astana, were selected to play in the 2022–23 UEFA Youth League by the Kazakhstan Football Federation.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[9]
For the UEFA Champions League Path group stage, in principle the teams played their matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the matchdays as scheduled for UEFA Champions League, and on the same day as the corresponding senior teams; however, matches could also be played on other dates, including Mondays and Thursdays.
For the Domestic Champions Path first and second rounds, in principle matches were played on Wednesdays (first round on matchdays 2 and 3, second round on matchdays 4 and 5, as scheduled for UEFA Champions League); however, matches could also be played on other dates, including Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For the UEFA Champions League Path, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. There was no separate draw held, with the group compositions identical to the draw for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 25 August 2022, 18:00 CEST (19:00 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.[10]
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners advanced to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs, where they would be joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path.
For the Domestic Champions Path, the 32 teams were drawn into two rounds of two-legged home-and-away ties. The draw for both the first round and second round was held on 31 August 2022.
The eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path were drawn against the eight group runners-up from the UEFA Champions League Path, with the teams from the Domestic Champions Path hosting the match. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
The draw was conducted on 8 November 2022 at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.[9] The knockout round play-offs were played over one leg on 7 and 8 February 2023.[12]
The draw was conducted on 13 February 2023 at 13:00 CET in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.[13] The round of 16 was played over one leg on 28 February and 1 March 2023.[9]
The draw was conducted on 13 February 2023 at 13:00 CET in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.[13] The quarter-finals were played over one leg on 14 and 15 March 2023.[9]
The draw was conducted on 13 February 2023 at 13:00 CET in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.[13] The semi-finals were played over one leg on 21 April 2023.[9] All four teams were qualified to the semi-finals for the first time ever, ensuring a fourth different champions in a row.[14]