Villa and Villarreal Hit Four, Bowler Hat-trick

A busy night in the opening round of fixtures in this season's new look Youth Cup saw 27 matches produce 24 wins, 3 draws, 65 (legitimate) goals, almost as many yellow cards (54), and 7 reds.

Biggest winners were Aston Villa and Villarreal with 4-0 wins each (biggest losers, Roma and Udinese). Sunderland's Josh Bowler tops the scoring charts following his splendid hat-trick in Kyiv.

Four teams - Sassuolo, Shakhtar, Besiktas and Koln - fielded overage players and recorded 0-3 defeats by default.

Season 7 Youth Cup Fixtures

Just a quick post to remind anyone who hasn't seen it on the newsfeed or the blog page.

The fixtures for the Youth Cup Groups Stage are on the main blog pages:

• Groups A, B & C
• Groups D, E & F
• Groups G, H & I

All managers should send out friendly requests for their home games as soon as possible.

The first week of matches is scheduled for Saturday 20 January.

Happy New Youth Cup and Spoon Trophy Big Barbs Conspiracy Theory

It's that time of year again, when we traditionally look back at the year that has gone, and look forward to the year that is coming.

Looking at the Youth Cup, I'd like to reflect on Season 6's competition, and plan for Season 7.

We can simply run the Youth Cup (and Shield) as before, which I'm quite happy to do, but we can also talk about any things we could do to make to make it more fun, this time around - or in the future.

Youth Cup Final Match Report

Two Top 100 giants fought each other tooth and nail home and away in this two-legged final either side of Christmas. Bayern hosted Juventus at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, with the return leg in Turin last night.

Youth Cup and Shield Finals Previews

Tonight sees the first legs of the culmination of a long, hard season of Youth Cup and Shield games for the four remaining teams, Bayern Munich and Juventus in the Youth Cup Final, and Flamengo and Sevilla in the Youth Shield Final. Second legs will be played on Wednesday 27 December, but here is a quick preview of the finals.

One Night in Turin: Youth Cup Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of this season's Youth Cup produced spectacular and unprecedented drama both on and off the pitch last night. Well, one of the games did. Tournament favourites Benfica could manage only a draw at home to Bayern, crashing out 4-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, over in Turin...

Youth Cup Quarter Finals Review

Of the top eight rated teams at the start of the season, just Barcelona (3rd) and Everton (8th) failed to make it to the Quarter Finals as expected. Barcelona lost 1-0 at pre-season tournament favourites Real Madrid in the previous round, while Everton also went out in the third round, 3-2 at new favourites Benfica. Leverkusen (originally rated the 11th best team) and Anderlecht (9th) were the beneficiaries of Barca and Everton's failures.

Before we get into the events of last night's Quarter Finals, let's quickly review how we got here with the results of the knockout rounds 2 and 3 since the group stages were decided.

Youth Cup Groups Final Standings and Knockout Round Fixtures

The big news form the Youth Cup this week is that all the matches have finally been played and we can now get on with the business end of the competition.

But before we do, in a Top 100 Blog Exclusive, I can exclusively reveal that Real Madrid are back IN the Youth Cup! Having quit just two weeks ago claiming the competition was costing them a shot at the league title, and in any case just wasn't competitive enough for the three time Youth Cup final losers and this season's odds-on favourites, Youth Cup supremo Beddows has confirmed he had 'a conversation' with the Madrid club's crazy Irish manager Roy Keane, and now, lo and behold, they they are back in.

Youth Cup Tables Final Round - S6 Group Stage Review

The Group Stage of the Season 6 Youth Cup is finally over, and it was both a competitive and fun season as well as the season of disappointment to an extent. The reason so is that there were many clubs that broke the rules and fielded seniors, some have done it once and some have done it quite a few times. Clubs without a broken rule have benefited a lot from this, as it allowed them to pass their direct rivals on the table, thus securing their place in the Knockout stages of the Youth Cup. Here we review each group of this season's competition. (reviews will come after each group is completely finished)

Youth Cup Tables Round 9 and Final Round Preview

Here are the results from last night's fixtures in the Youth Cup, along with updated tables, and what it means for the final round of group matches before the knockout Cup and Shield stages. Plus any manager updates and pre- and post-match press conferences comments.

Youth Cup Tables Round 8 and Final Rounds Preview

Here are the updated Youth Cup tables after round 8's games last night, and a few comments from me on each of the groups - where we all stand and what could happen in the final two rounds of matches, bearing in mind that the top four in each group qualify for the next stages.

Youth Cup Tables Round 7

Quick roundup of the latest Youth Cup tables.

To see the full list of results, forfeits (columns marked C) and round by round tables look here: https://goo.gl/MgZ5aP (each group has its own worksheet tab at the bottom, feel free to add comments!).

Youth Cup Group Five Preview

A quick look at who some of the key players might be and which teams will qualify
from this season's most competitive group.

Manchester City

Division One big club City will be hoping their midfield starlets can create enough chances as well as providing solid defensive cover.

Chances of qualifying from this group? Small.