NextGen Series
The NextGen Series or Next Generation Series was a full- registered in the seasons 2011/12 and 2012/13 football club competition for male soccer players under 19 years. Was initiated the tournament of the TV producer Justin Andrews and the sporting director of FC Brentford, Mark Warburton. With the competition young players should be given the opportunity to gain international experience at club level. The competition is considered the forerunner of the UEFA Youth League.
Eligible were junior teams of top European clubs, which are characterized by a high quality of their young talent. The competition was spread over the entire season with home and away matches, analogous to the European club competitions held. It was played as with all other international competitions under the rule of the International Football Association Board. Were in the first edition in the 2011/12 season still sixteen teams in four groups at the start, the determined participants in the quarterfinals. 2012/13 was this field of competitors, with the exception of the FC Basel, increased by nine other teams to 24 teams, now playing off the participants into six groups on the second round.
In the media, the competition was mainly through live broadcasts of selected games on the sports channel, euro sport, which had the pan-European broadcasting rights, present.
For the 2013/14 season, UEFA introducing a UEFA Youth League who qualify for the U- 19 teams of the 32 participating in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League clubs decided. The NextGen Series will no longer be discharged from this season.