AZ Alkmaar's achievement: 2022/23 UEFA Youth League at a glance

AZ Alkmaar defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0, Barcelona 3-0 (away) and Real Madrid 4-0 to reach their first UEFA Youth League finals, and hit five goals without reply against Hajduk Split in Geneva to earn a maiden Dutch triumph in this competition.

Hajduk, whose scalps included Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and, in the semi-finals, AC Milan, had a historic Croatian run themselves, backed by thousands of fans in the finals, which were moved from the usual venue of Nyon to Stade de Genève. Milan and the other beaten semi-finalists, Sporting CP, were also in the last four for the first time.

Top scorers

9 Bilal Mazhar (Panathinaikos)
9 Mexx Meerdink (AZ Alkmaar)
8 Ilyes Housni (Paris Saint-Germain)
8 Adrian Niño (Atlético)
8 Ernest Poku (AZ Alkmaar)
7 Victor Barberá (Barcelona)
7 Oakley Cannonier (Liverpool)
6 Ismael Gharbi (Paris Saint-Germain)
6 Karim Konaté (Salzburg)
6 Rodrigo Ribeiro (Sporting CP)

Records and key stats

• AZ are the first winners from the Netherlands, and it was the club's first UEFA trophy at any level.
• Hajduk were the first club from Croatia to reach the final of any UEFA competition.
• This was the first time two teams from the domestic champions path made the same final, or the same semi-finals. The only previous three to get to the last four were Anderlecht (2016 semi-finals), Salzburg (2017 winners) and Chelsea (2019 runners-up).
• All four semi-finalists were at that stage for the first time.
• Adrian Niño of Atlético became the first player to score in all six group games and set a new record of scoring in seven consecutive matches, including the round of 16.
• Bilal Mazhar's five goals for Panathinaikos against Slavia Sofia equalled the record for the most in a single Youth League game.
• Mexx Meerdink, who scored twice in the final to equal Mazhar's season tally of nine, is the first player to combine finishing top scorer with winning the competition since Dominic Solanke (Chelsea, 2014/15) and Munir El-Haddadi (Barcelona, 2013/14) in the competition's inaugural two seasons, before the domestic champions path was introduced.
• Meerdink flew to the final having played in the Eredivisie the previous day. He missed the semi as the night before, he had scored AZ's winning penalty in the last eight of the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final against Anderlecht. Walter Goes, an unused substitute in that game, captained AZ against Sporting in Geneva the following day.

Roll of honour

Finals
2023: AZ Alkmaar 5-0 Hajduk Split (beaten semi-finalists: AC Milan & Sporting CP)
2022: Benfica 6-0 Salzburg (beaten semi-finalists: Atlético & Juventus)
2021: No competition
2020: Real Madrid 3-2 Benfica (beaten semi-finalists: Salzburg & Ajax)
2019: Porto 3-1 Chelsea (beaten semi-finalists: Barcelona & Hoffenheim)
2018: Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea (beaten semi-finalists: Manchester City & Porto)
2017: Salzburg 2-1 Benfica (beaten semi-finalists: Barcelona & Real Madrid)
2016: Chelsea 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain (beaten semi-finalists: Anderlecht & Real Madrid)
2015: Chelsea 3-2 Shakhtar Donetsk (beaten semi-finalists: Anderlecht & Roma)
2014: Barcelona 3-0 Benfica (beaten semi-finalists: Real Madrid & Schalke)

Top scorer by season
2022/23: Bilal Mazhar (Panathinaikos), Mexx Meerdink (AZ Alkmaar) 9
2021/22: Mads Hansen (Midtjylland), Aral Simsir (Midtjylland) 7
2020/21: season cancelled
2019/20: Roberto Piccoli (Atalanta), Gonçalo Ramos (Benfica) 8
2018/19: Charlie Brown (Chelsea) 12
2017/18: Ivan Ignatev (Krasnodar) 10
2016/17: Jordi Mboula (Barcelona), Kaj Sierhuis (Ajax) 8
2015/16: Roberto Nuñez (Atlético) 9
2014/15: Dominic Solanke (Chelsea) 12
2013/14: Munir El Haddadi (Barcelona) 11

Most titles

By club 

2 Barcelona
2 Chelsea
1 AZ Alkmaar
1 Benfica
1 Porto
1 Real Madrid
1 Salzburg

By country

3 Spain
2 England
2 Portugal
1 Austria
1 Netherlands

Most final appearances

By club

4 Benfica
4 Chelsea
2 Barcelona
2 Salzburg
1 AZ Alkmaar
1 Hajduk Split
1 Paris Saint-Germain
1 Porto
1 Real Madrid
1 Shakhtar Donetsk

By country

5 Portugal
4 England
3 Spain
2 Austria
1 Croatia
1 France
1 Netherlands
1 Ukraine

Most semi-final appearances

By club

4 Barcelona
4 Benfica
4 Chelsea
4 Real Madrid
3 Salzburg
2 Anderlecht
2 Porto
1 AC Milan
1 Ajax
1 Atlético
1 AZ Alkmaar
1 Hajduk Split
1 Hoffenheim
1 Juventus
1 Manchester City
1 Paris Saint-Germain
1 Roma
1 Schalke
1 Shakhtar Donetsk
1 Sporting CP

By country

9 Spain
7 Portugal
5 England
3 Austria
3 Italy
2 Belgium
2 Germany
2 Netherlands
1 Croatia
1 France
1 Ukraine

Bold=including 2023