It's the afternoon ritual for the most ardent supporters of clubs competing in the Champions League. As a curtain raiser, before the Tuesday evening or Wednesday evening poster, the same match is played in the Youth League. This is how the young people of PSG, a few hours before the defeat of Luis Enrique's men at the BayArena (2-7), drew against their Bayer counterparts (2-2).
There is, however, a subtlety with the Youth League. This is not a simple copy and paste of the Champions League since the competition includes another phase, where we find the national champion in the youth categories. For France, it is the winner of the U19 championship… or the finalist if the winner is already qualified. It is in this capacity that FC Nantes will play its third Youth League campaign in the last four seasons.
In 2023-2024, the young Canaries had a fantastic run, reaching the semi-finals, with an elimination against Olympiakos. The Nantes public, who had broken attendance records at Beaujoire, had attentively followed the adventure of Louis Leroux, Dehmaine Tabibou & Co.
UEFA deprives Nantes of broadcasting
For this season, the competition starts with a two-legged match against an Azerbaijani club, Sabah FC. The first leg is played this Wednesday afternoon, but it will not be broadcast, unlike Leverkusen-PSG on Tuesday (on PSG TV Premium) or Monaco-Tottenham (on Canal+ Foot). FC Nantes provided the reason.
“With a kick-off at 5 p.m., Champions League day, UEFA prohibits the broadcast of the match to avoid any competition with the C1 matches at 6:45 p.m.”indicates the FCN on its official website. To see Samuel Fenillat's young Canaries, the only solution is to go to the Stade Marcel-Saupin, but all the tickets have been distributed.
