The NextGen Series is a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It is similar in form to the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 and will provide a competition for youth players an opportunity to play other young European footballers.

The competition was created by Brentford

Brentford F.C.

Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

 sporting director Mark Warburton.

Background

Plans to create a European competition for youth footballers have long been touted. Ajax and Manchester City played a behind closed doors match in November 2010 as did Liverpool

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 and Celtic

Celtic F.C.

Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

. This was part of a trial scheme for the new competition.

The goal of the tournament is to help clubs replicate the Champions League experience for younger players. Celtic youth coach, Chris McCart

Chris McCart

Christopher 'Chris' McCart is a Scottish former footballer who played as a defender. McCart spent most of his career with Motherwell, spending twelve seasons with the Fir Park club before a short spell with Falkirk...

 said;

Format

Teams were picked for the first season of the tournament through invitation. The organisers picked the 16 clubs who they considered to have the best academies in Europe.
More teams are likely to be involved in future tournaments as the competition expands. The organisers hope to involve 24 clubs in the 2012–13 season.

Qualification

The clubs picked for the first season are:

Aston Villa

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

 Liverpool

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

 Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

 Inter Milan

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Football Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...

 Olympique de Marseille

Olympique de Marseille

Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...

 Ajax
PSV Eindhoven Molde FK Rosenborg Sporting Clube de Portugal
Celtic

Celtic F.C.

Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

 Barcelona FC Basel

FC Basel

Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. They are one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 14 times, the third most for any Swiss club. They were most successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning the...

 Fenerbahçe

Tournament

For the 2011–12 tournament the 16 teams are split into four groups of four, playing each other home and away. The top two teams from each group go through to a knockout stage. The Quarter Finals will be played over one leg at the Home ground of the Group Winners.

Quarter Final 1 - Winner Group 1 vs. Runner up Group 3

Quarter Final 2 - Winner Group 2 vs. Runner up Group 4

Quarter Final 3 - Winner Group 3 vs. Runner up Group 1

Quarter Final 4 - Winner Group 4 vs. Runner up Group 2

Rules

Teams participating in the NextGen series are limited to a squad size of no more than eighteen members. Their is an age limit of 18 on players players participating in the competition. However, each club has the option of having three players who are one year older than this, although only a maximum of two of them are allowed to be on the pitch at any one time.

Match rules for the series, other than the age cap, are the same as those stipulated by the International Football Association Board

International Football Association Board

The International Football Association Board is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football.-Operations:...

, meaning that they are identical to those of most other international tournaments.