Maxwell: The UEFA Youth League is a perfect mirror to the Champions League

Maxwell, UEFA's chief of football development, has lauded the impact of the Youth League just nine years after the founding of the competition. 

The yearly tournament, which in many ways is similar to that of the senior men's competitions, has attracted big crowds and has been treated as a major piece of silverware for Europe's major academies like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea. 

Maxwell believes that its impact has benefited European footballers, allowing hundreds to experience pressured competition before going on to do it in the senior game. 

"I think it is the highest competition where you can face the best teams and players in Europe," Maxwell told GOAL. "It is a good opportunity to face different clubs and coaches of football. 

"The process of development gives a great platform to perform for players, coaches and even referees. We see that the competition has a huge impact on youth football. 

"We see 800 or so players go from there to Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. There’s a huge impact on the development of those youth players. 

"We had Deportivo playing Dynamo Kiev and there were 20,000 fans. It is like a real competition for men. 

"We see that players go out and shine under this pressure into the first team. It is an opportunity and it is the top level of youth football. 

"Often, you see around 75 minutes onwards that they get more cramps than in other competitions because of the difficulty of the matches.

"We are seeing UEFA Youth League winners do it in the Champions League and Europa League with Mason Mount and Andreas Christensen doing it at Chelsea. There's also Munir El Haddadi who won with Barcelona and then the Europa League with Sevilla.

"This competition is a platform to