38 teams have entered. Full details of format, groups, fixtures and results can be followed at https://challonge.com/t100s14yc.

Tournament will start on Saturday 21 November 2020, and end on Saturday 13 March 2021 (17 weeks).

Players who were 21 or under at 31 October 2020 are eligible to play, as are players who turned 22 on or after 1 November 2020.

Managers who fail to arrange fixtures or who play ineligible players will forfeit the match 3-0.

Prizes of exclusive choice of one new free agent added to the database in April 2021 will be awarded to the winners of the Youth Cup and Shield, as well as to one manager randomly drawn from the rest, and who has not forfeited any matches.

Format

Teams will play in a seeded regional Group Stage consisting of 9 groups A to I. Seven groups will have four teams, two groups will have five teams. There will be ten weeks of matches in each group.

Three teams will qualify from each group for the Knockout Stage, consisting of three one-legged knockout rounds, followed by two-legged semi-finals and final, over seven weeks.

Youth Shield

Five non-qualifiers from the Group Stage (excluding five managers who failed to pick their teams two or more times, and both fifth placed teams), plus the eleven losers from the first round, and then a further eight losers of the second round of the Youth Cup Knockout Stage, will enter the Youth Shield. The Youth Shield will run as a Knockout, consisting of three one-legged knockout rounds and semi-finals, followed by a two-legged final, over six weeks.

Group Stage