Youth in the Champions League

Thanks to the placement of the first team of Red Star in the Champions League, our youngsters also got the opportunity to compete with the best junior teams. Zvezda has been a standard participant in this competition since the 2018/19 season, which means that we have participated in the Youth Champions League on six occasions (the 2020/21 season was not played due to the corona virus). The best result was achieved in the second season, when Slavoljub Đorđević led the generation of boys born in 2002 who managed to place among the 16 best teams in Europe.

Today, our youth is led by Milijaš, and the backbone of the team is made up of boys born in 2007 who shone at the recently concluded European Championship. Specifically - Draškić, Vasilić, Kostov and Ranković have already had the opportunity to debut for the first team of Crvena zvezda, albeit in friendly matches, so there is no doubt that this generation is full of talent.

The new competition format will also include the Youth Champions League, but with some differences. The Youth Champions League will continue to be divided into two tracks, where teams whose seniors also qualified for the competition will participate in one, and national championship winners in the other. Unlike the seniors, Zvezda's juniors will play six games (three at home and away), but they will have the same first six rivals as Vladan Milojević's team, only without the last two games scheduled in January. In the end - 22 of the 32 teams will be placed in the elimination phase, while the rest will be filled by 10 teams from the conqueror's path.

Zvezda's juniors will find out their rivals today at the draw in Monaco. The deadline for player registration is September 10, and clubs will still be required to register 40 players for the competition.