Clear your calendar for Tuesday and Wednesday nights going forward – the Champions League is back as 36 of Europe's best teams prepare to do battle across the continent over the next nine months. Last season's tournament, complete with the brand-new league phase, turned into an epic, and the 2025-26 edition of the premier club competition on the planet promises to be no different.
Picking a winner ahead of kick-off is nigh on impossible, but one thing we know for sure is that this is the competition where young players can go from being little-known talents to household names in the blink of an eye. Lamine Yamal and Desire Doue lit up the Champions League last term, while the likes of Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ayyoub Bouaddi earned rave reviews for some of their European performances.
Now, with the first batch of games set to kick-off on Tuesday, who will be the next youngsters to become Champions League icons in front of our eyes? We've put our NXGN hat on and picked out 10 teenagers born in 2006 or later who we can't wait to see make their competition debuts in the coming weeks…
Getty Images SportLucas Bergvall (Tottenham)
Premier League fans may not realise given the maturity that Lucas Bergvall plays with, but the Tottenham midfielder only turned 19 in February, and thus has to be among the most exciting prospects currently plying their trade in the English top-flight. Bergvall opened his Premier League goal account on Saturday against West Ham, but it is the Sweden international's all-round game that has stood out ever since he broke into the Spurs line up early last season.
Bergvall's game promises to go to the next level under Thomas Frank's tutelage, and he will this season get the chance on the grandest stage possible to show exactly why Barcelona were so upset when they missed on signing him from Djurgardens in early 2024.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesMikkel Bro Hansen (Bodo/Glimt)
The Champions League comes to the Arctic Circle in 2025-26 as another chapter prepares to be written in the Bodo/Glimt fairy tale. After reaching the Europa League semi-finals last term, the Norwegian side are dining at Europe's top table for the first time, and they are doing so with a homegrown teenager within their squad who could be set for even greater things.
Mikkel Bro Hansen won't turn 17 until January, but he has already netted seven goals in eight appearances for the Bodo first team, including two hat-tricks in the Norwegian Cup. On Friday, he fired home from the penalty spot to become the youngest league goal-scorer in the club's history, with it clear why Barca and Spurs are among the clubs to have been linked with the striker in recent months.
Getty Images SportMax Dowman (Arsenal)
Perhaps the most exciting English talent right now, Max Dowman's long-awaited Arsenal debut eventually arrived in August, and the way he ran rings around Premier League defenders during the Gunners' 5-0 win over Leeds United only added to the suggestion that the Gunners have got a serious talent on their hands.
Capable of playing in central midfield or out wide, the 15-year-old will become the youngest-ever player to appear in the Champions League if he makes his European debut before the turn of the year, and given his fearless approach to the game, it wouldn't be a shock if Dowman made his first mark on the competition before the campaign is out.
Getty Images SportLennart Karl (Bayern Munich)
Given their propensity to hoover up first-team ready players from their Bundesliga rivals and beyond, it's not always easy for Bayern Munich's homegrown youngsters to force their way into the first-team picture at the Allianz Arena. Lennart Karl, however, is hoping to buck that trend after earning the trust of Vincent Kompany.
The 17-year-old attacker, who can play centrally or out wide, made his senior debut at the Club World Cup and, after an eye-catching pre-season, has now begun to make cameos off the bench for the Bundesliga champions. Regarded as the top talent within Germany right now, Karl should force his way onto the pitch in Europe in the weeks and months to come.
