S28 Youth Cup: Espanyol and Sporting crowned champions

By David Marsden · Hamburger SV

The finals are done. Espanyol Academy (Glen Mullan) won the Youth Cup, and Sporting (Carl Martin) won the Youth Shield.

Both teams retained the trophies they won last season, and Espanyol completed a hattrick of wins.

Youth Cup Final

• Espanyol Academy swept past Genoa 8-4 on aggregate (Genoa 2-4 Espanyol Academy; Espanyol Academy 4-2 Genoa).

Youth Shield Final

• Sporting swept past Chelsea 4-0 on aggregate (Sporting 2-0 Chelsea; Chelsea 0-2 Sporting).

Espanyol Academy’s road to the Youth Cup title

• Round of 32: swept past Bremen 4-0.
• Round of 16: swept past Milan 9-1 on aggregate (Milan 1-4 Espanyol Academy; Espanyol Academy 5-0 Milan).
• Quarter-finals: swept past Leicester Youth 6-1 on aggregate (Espanyol Academy 2-1 Leicester Youth; Leicester Youth 0-4 Espanyol Academy).
• Semi-finals: edged Besiktas 3-3 on aggregate on away goals (Espanyol Academy 0-2 Besiktas; Besiktas 1-3 Espanyol Academy).
• Final: swept past Genoa 8-4 on aggregate (Genoa 2-4 Espanyol Academy; Espanyol Academy 4-2 Genoa).

Sporting’s road to the Youth Shield title

• Round of 32: swept past Dynamo Moscow 3-0.
• Round of 16: swept past FC AUGSBURG 5-2.
• Quarter-finals: beat Bremen 1-0 on aggregate (Sporting 0-0 Bremen; Bremen 0-1 Sporting).
• Semi-finals: beat Anderlecht 3-2 on aggregate (Anderlecht 1-2 Sporting; Sporting 1-1 Anderlecht).
• Final: swept past Chelsea 4-0 on aggregate (Sporting 2-0 Chelsea; Chelsea 0-2 Sporting).

From the press room

“Absolutely thrilled to make our 7th final in 9 seasons. Its a repeat of last seasons final and it promises to be a cracker. They’ve a free scoring awesome team, and we need to raise our levels if we are to come out on top over 2 legs. Endrick will go down in Espanyol history as both a star of the youth cup but also first team. The step up of 9 of our youth team to the first team in division 1 this season has been fairytale stuff. We are now two games away of a potential 3 in a row.”

— Glen Mullan, Espanyol, pre-match before Genoa v Espanyol Academy

That’s a wrap

Thanks to every manager who took part. The S28 Youth Cup is now archived, and the end-of-season prize draw for managers with a clean fair-play record is completed.

Follow every tie, result and bracket on the Top 100 Tournament Hub