# 2012–13 NextGen Series

The 2012–13 NextGen Series was the second season of the NextGen Series. The tournament involved the under-19 teams from 24 different countries across Europe. The tournament was won by Aston Villa who overcame Chelsea in the final.

## Format changes

From the previous season's competition, one major format change has been announced, with the competition moving from a 16-team to a 24-team affair. The group stage was run in six groups of four, an expansion of the same format as the previous season.

## Teams

The 24 teams were sorted into six groups, where they played each other home and away in a Round-robin tournament. The top teams advanced to the finals of the competition.
Fifteen of the 16 founder-members reprise their roles, consisting of some of the highest-reputations teams from across UEFA, mirroring the current or recent Champions League involvement of their first teams. Only Basel of Switzerland declined the invitation to reappear.
* Aston Villa
* Liverpool
* Manchester City
* Tottenham Hotspur
* Barcelona
* Wolfsburg
* Internazionale
* Sporting CP
* Marseille
* Ajax
* PSV Eindhoven
* Fenerbahçe
* Celtic
* Molde
* Rosenborg
They were joined by a further nine teams of high standing for the expanded series.
* Arsenal
* Chelsea
* Athletic Bilbao
* Borussia Dortmund
* Juventus
* Paris Saint-Germain
* CSKA Moscow
* Olympiacos
* Anderlecht

## Group stage

The 24 teams were sorted into six groups of four, where they play each other home and away in a double round robin format. The top-two teams from each group progressed to the knock-out stages of the competition alongside the four highest points-scoring third-place finishers.
* Key to colours in group tables
* Group winners, runners-up and four best third placed teams advance to the round of 16

### Group 1

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Barcelona | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 11 |
| Anderlecht | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 9 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 8 |
| Wolfsburg | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17 | −8 | 4 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

### Group 2

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 13 |
| Juventus | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 12 |
| Manchester City | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 5 |
| Fenerbahçe | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | −7 | 2 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

### Group 3

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| CSKA Moscow | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 12 |
| Ajax | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 11 |
| Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 9 |
| Molde | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 20 | −18 | 1 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

### Group 4

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Sporting CP | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 12 |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 10 |
| PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 9 |
| Celtic | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 4 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

### Group 5

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Internazionale | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Rosenborg | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 9 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 5 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

### Group 6

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Olympiacos | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 9 |
| Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 8 |
| Marseille | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 8 |
| Athletic Bilbao | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 7 |
Kickoff times are in CET.

## Ranking of third-placed teams

| Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 3 | Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 9 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 9 |
| 4 | PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 9 |
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 8 |
| 6 | Marseille | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 8 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 5 |

## Knockout stage

The knockout round matches were decided by ordering each team from 1 through 16, with the top ranked team facing the lowest ranked team, and on down.
* Key to colours
* Group winners
* Runners-up
* Four best third-placed teams
| Seeded | Seeded | Seeded | Seeded | Seeded | Unseeded | Unseeded | Unseeded | Unseeded | Unseeded |
| # | Team | Pts | GD | GF | # | Team | Pts | GD | GF |
| 1. | Paris Saint-Germain | 13 | +5 | 10 | 9. | Aston Villa | 10 | +4 | 12 |
| 2. | CSKA Moscow | 12 | +3 | 8 | 10. | Rosenborg | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 3. | Sporting CP | 12 | +1 | 12 | 11. | Anderlecht | 9 | +2 | 8 |
| 4. | Barcelona | 11 | +6 | 12 | 12. | Arsenal | 8 | +2 | 7 |
| 5. | Internazionale | 10 | 0 | 10 | 13. | Chelsea | 9 | +6 | 12 |
| 6. | Olympiacos | 9 | −1 | 4 | 14. | Liverpool | 9 | +4 | 14 |
| 7. | Juventus | 12 | +4 | 13 | 15. | PSV Eindhoven | 9 | −3 | 6 |
| 8. | Ajax | 11 | +9 | 15 | 16. | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 0 | 10 |

### Bracket

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| Barcelona | 0 | | | | |
| Chelsea | 2 | | | | |
| Chelsea | 2 | Chelsea | 4 | | |
| | | Juventus | 1 | | |
| Juventus | 1 | Juventus | 1 | | |
| Rosenborg | 0 | | | | |
| Rosenborg | 0 | | | Chelsea (a.e.t.) | 4 |
| | | | | Arsenal | 3 |
| Internazionale | 0 | | | Arsenal | 3 |
| Arsenal | 1 | | | | |
| Arsenal | 1 | Arsenal | 1 | | |
| | | CSKA Moscow | 0 | | |
| CSKA Moscow | 3 | CSKA Moscow | 0 | | |
| PSV Eindhoven | 0 | | | | | | |
| PSV Eindhoven | 0 | | | | | Chelsea | 0 |
| | | | | | | Aston Villa | 2 |
| Ajax | 1 | | | | | Aston Villa | 2 |
| Aston Villa | 2 | | | | | | |
| Aston Villa | 2 | Aston Villa | 1 | | | | |
| | | Olympiacos | 0 | | | | |
| Olympiacos | 2 | Olympiacos | 0 | | | | |
| Anderlecht | 1 | | | | | | |
| Anderlecht | 1 | | | Aston Villa | 3 | | |
| | | | | Sporting CP | 1 | Third place match | Third place match |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 1 (3) | | | Sporting CP | 1 | Third place match | Third place match |
| Tottenham Hotspur (pen.) | 1 (4) | | | | | | |
| Tottenham Hotspur (pen.) | 1 (4) | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | | | Arsenal | 1 |
| | | Sporting CP (a.e.t.) | 5 | | | Sporting CP | 3 |
| Sporting CP | 4 | Sporting CP (a.e.t.) | 5 | | | Sporting CP | 3 |
| Liverpool | 0 | | | | | | |

### Final
## Top goalscorers

Players and teams in bold are still active in the competition:
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Graham Burke | Aston Villa | 7 |
| 1 | Islam Feruz | Chelsea | 7 |
| 3 | Michael Drennan | Aston Villa | 6 |
| 4 | Conor Coady | Liverpool | 5 |
| 4 | Shaq Coulthirst | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 |
| 4 | Carlos Mané | Sporting CP | 5 |
| 7 | Chuba Akpom | Arsenal | 4 |
| 7 | Lewis Baker | Chelsea | 4 |
| 7 | Viktor Fischer | Ajax | 4 |
| 7 | Alex Pritchard | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 |
| 11 | Magnus Blakstad | Rosenborg | 3 |
| 11 | Jeremie Boga | Chelsea | 3 |
| 11 | Francesco Forte | Internazionale | 3 |
| 11 | Philipp Hauck | Wolfsburg | 3 |
| 11 | Nikolaos Ioannidis | Olympiacos | 3 |
| 11 | Alex Kiwomya | Chelsea | 3 |
| 11 | Iuri Medeiros | Sporting CP | 3 |
| 11 | Adam Morgan | Liverpool | 3 |
| 11 | Sandro | Barcelona | 3 |
| 11 | Gorka Santamaría | Athletic Bilbao | 3 |

### Note

1: ^ In January 2013 Alex Pritchard moved on loan from Tottenham Hotspur to Peterborough United.