Meet the UEFA Youth League finalists: AZ Alkmaar vs Hajduk Split

New winners of the UEFA Youth League are guaranteed on Monday when AZ Alkmaar take on Hajduk Split in Geneva.

The finals are at Stade de Genève rather than the usual base of Colovray Sports Centre, Nyon, due to the extraordinary interest of participating clubs' supporters for the tournament, subsequently leading to a need for a venue with increased operational capacities.

In the semi-finals on Friday, AZ beat Sporting CP on penalties and Hajduk defeated AC Milan 3-1. Not only have neither AZ nor Hajduk previously made the final, never before has a team from the Netherlands or Croatia reached the decider.

Also for the first time, two sides from the domestic champions path are into the final. The two clubs to previously come through that route were winners Salzburg in 2016/17 and runners-up Chelsea in 2018/19.

We profile the teams going for glory to try become the seventh different winners in the nine competition seasons, joining a roll of honour that includes Barcelona (2013/14 and 2017/18), Benfica (2021/22), Chelsea (2014/15 and 2015/16), Salzburg (2016/17), Porto (2018/19) and Real Madrid (2019/20).

AZ Alkmaar

Domestic champions path round 1: W6-1agg vs Shamrock Rovers (W5-0h, D1-1a)
Domestic champions path round 2: W3-3agg, 4-3pens vs Crvena zvezda (D2-2h, D1-1a)
Play-offs: W5-0h vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Round of 16: W3-0a vs Barcelona
Quarter-finals: W4-0h vs Real Madrid
Semi-finals: W2-2, 4-3pens vs Sporting CP (Geneva)
Top scorer: Mexx Meerdink 7
Previous best: Round of 16 (2021/22)

• Walter Goes was an unused AZ substitute on Thursday in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final second leg against Anderlecht, then flew to Geneva to captain the team against Sporting, both matches won on penalties. Meerdink converted the winning penalty for the seniors but could return for the U19s on Monday.
• With AZ in the Europa Conference League semi-finals, they could be only the second club to win two UEFA competitions in the same season (not counting the UEFA Super Cup or similar one-off fixtures) after Barcelona in the 2013/14 Youth League and UEFA Futsal Cup.

Hajduk Split

Domestic champions path round 1: W5-1agg vs Gabala (W3-0h, W2-1a)
Domestic champions path round 2: W6-1agg vs Apolonia (W3-0a, W3-1h)
Play-offs: W1-0h vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Round of 16: W2-1h vs Manchester City
Quarter-finals: W1-1, 9-8pens a vs Borussia Dortmund
Semi-finals: W3-1 vs AC Milan (Geneva)
Top scorer: Jere Vrcić 5
Previous best: Play-offs (2021/22)

• The first Croatian team to reach the final of any UEFA club competition; Dinamo Zagreb won the 1966/67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but that tournament was not organised by UEFA.
• Have never lost over 90 minutes in any of their 13 UEFA Youth League since making their debut last season, where in the play-offs they went out on penalties to Atlético. The only other fixtures in those 13 matches that Hajduk did not win in regulation time are against Dortmund in this season's quarter-finals and Minsk in last term's domestic champions path second round second leg, when they drew 1-1 to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory.