Liverpool Drawn with Sporting Lisbon, Molde, Wolfsburg in U-19 Champions League

As the 2011-12 season draws closer and the senior sides of Europe's finest clubs set about performing multi-million transfer deals and getting their International stars in tip-top shape ahead of the big kickoff in six weeks' time, an exciting new venture for their stars of tomorrow took a big step today with the group stage draw of the NextGen Series Under-19 Champions League-style competition taking place.

Sixteen elite youth development sides from around Europe will partake in the ground-breaking tournament in its debut season including the likes of current European champions Barcelona, Scottish giants Celtic and English quartet Aston Villa, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and of course Liverpool.

Following on from several seasons' worth of discussions and complaints that the current setup of reserve and under-18 football does not allow young players enough regular game time, especially during the winter when many reserve fixtures may be cancelled or moved, the NextGen tournament has been set up to pit the best of the best against each other to crown an eventual European youth champion.

After being one of the early front-runners to compete in the tournament, Liverpool faced a wait while the remaining slots were filled and then the group draw made, and after Dutch club Ajax were confirmed as the final team the draw was made today.

Liverpool will play in Group 2 alongside Sporting Lisbon of Portugal, Molde of Norway and Wolfsburg of Germany.

They will face the Portuguese giants at home midway through August before traveling to Molde at the end of the month. Home ties versus Wolfsburg and the return of Molde come in September, with Wolfsburg away to come in October and Sporting Lisbon away in November.

The top two teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the knockout stages, which may be held in Abu-Dhabi in January 2012.

Reds youngsters who featured in the first team last season such as John Flanagan and Jack Robinson will still be eligible to play in the competition, while younger starlets such as Conor Coady, Raheem Sterling, Suso and Krisztian Adorjan will be expected to feature heavily.

Full Group Stage draw:

Group 1: Barcelona (ESP), Manchester City (ENG), Celtic (SCO), Marseille (FRA)

Group 2: Liverpool (ENG), Sporting Lisbon (POR), Molde (NOR), Wolfsburg (GER)

Group 3: Basle (SWI), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), PSV Eindhoven (HOL), Inter Milan (ITA)

Group 4: Ajax (HOL), Rosenborg (NOR), Aston Villa (ENG), Fenerbahce (TUR)

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