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Juventus Next Gen (Italian pronunciation: [juˈvɛntus nɛkst dʒɛn]), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (pronounced [ˈjuːve ˈɛn ˈdʒiː]), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of Serie A club Juventus. They compete in Serie C Group C, and play their home games at the Stadio La Marmora-Pozzo in Biella.
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| Full name | Juventus Next Gen[1] | ||
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| Short name | Juve Next Gen Juve NG | ||
| Founded | 3 August 2018 as Juventus U23 | ||
| Ground | Stadio La Marmora-Pozzo | ||
| Capacity | 5,827[2] | ||
| Chairman | Gianluca Ferrero | ||
| League | Serie C Group C | ||
| 2023–24 | Serie C Group A, 7th of 20 | ||
| Website | https://www.juventus.com/en/teams/next-gen | ||
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Following the reintroduction of reserve teams in Italy, Juventus U23 was formed in 2018 and was registered to Serie C, the third level of the Italian league system. In the first years, the team reached the promotion play-off stages of Serie C, without gaining promotion. In the 2019–20 season, under coach Fabio Pecchia, Juventus U23 won the Coppa Italia Serie C after defeating Ternana in the final. The club changed its name to Juventus Next Gen in 2022. Juventus Next Gen remained the sole Italian reserve team until August 2023 when Atalanta founded its own.[3]
Due to the nature of the club as a reserve team, Juventus Next Gen needs to comply to certain regulations, such as being eligible for promotion to Serie A and competing in the Coppa Italia, the major national cup. The club, and in general FIGC's reserve-team project, has faced a lot of criticism, especially from fans of other Serie C teams due to their perceived lack of history.
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Predecessors (1904–1976)
Reserve teams were introduced in Italy in the early 20th century, and played in the Seconda Categoria.[a][4] On 17 April 1904, the second team of Juventus lost the final 4–0 to Genoa II at the Ponte Carrega field.[4] On 2 April 1905, after a 3–0 away win to AC Milan II, Juventus II obtained the mathematical certainty of first place at the final three-team group stage to win their only Seconda Categoria trophy.[5]
Juventus II also took part in the Campionato De Martino, another league dedicated to reserve teams, until the competition ceased in 1976; they won the 1959–60 edition.[6]
Juventus even had a third team who played friendly matches against local teams,[7][8][9][10] and competed in the Terza Categoria in the early 20th century.[b][11]
Juventus U23 (2018–2022)
Juventus U23 were founded on 3 August 2018,[12] following the reintroduction of professional reserve teams in Italian football after over 40 years, and was officially admitted to the Serie C championship.[13]
On 21 August, Luca Zanimacchia became the first scorer of the team's history after scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Cuneo in the group stage of the Coppa Italia Serie C.[14] Juventus U23's first game in Serie C was a 2–1 away defeat to Alessandria, with Claudio Zappa scoring the team's first league goal.[15] Juventus U23 ended their first season in 12th place with 42 points in 37 games,[16] and were eliminated in the group stage of the Coppa Italia Serie C.[17]
In the 2019–20 season, coached by Fabio Pecchia, Juventus U23 won the Coppa Italia Serie C after beating Ternana 2–1 in the final on 27 June 2020. The club won its first trophy in their second year as a professional club.[18][19] In August, U19 coach Lamberto Zauli was promoted to U23 level, replacing Andrea Pirlo (who became first-team coach), who had in turn taken Pecchia's place.[20] Zauli coached for the following two seasons; in the last one, his Juventus U23 made their best-ever regular-season score with 54 points.[21]
Juventus Next Gen (2022–present)
On 28 June 2022, Massimo Brambilla was appointed as Juventus U23's coach.[22] On 26 August, the club changed its name to Juventus Next Gen.[23] In his first season, Brambilla's Juventus Next Gen reached the final of the Coppa Italia Serie C, lost 5–3 on aggregate to Vicenza,[24] but they failed to qualify for the promotion play-offs, having finished the league at the thirteenth place with 49 points.[25] However, in the following season, they obtained the seventh place in the regular season, their best-ever-regular-season placement.[26]
Brambilla left Juventus Next Gen at the end of the season[27] and was substituted by former U19 coach and former first-team defender Paolo Montero in mid 2024.[28] Montero was sacked in the November of the same year, with the team trailing at the penultimate place in relegation zone and with them obtaining one only victory in 14 league matches.[29][30] Brambilla returned to Juventus Next Gen on a contract until June 2025.[31]
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Juventus Next Gen does not possess their own stadium. From 2018 to 2024, it shared the Stadio Giuseppe Moccagatta with Alessandria as their home stadium.[32] Although there had been an agreement among the two parts shortly after Juventus's reserve team's foundation, Alessandria's fans protested to not share their stadium.[32] According to the agreement, Juventus Next Gen fans can sit only in the guests sector.[32] Their players train at the Juventus Training Center in Vinovo.[32]
On 27 November 2022, Juventus Next Gen played exceptionally a match against Mantova at the Juventus Stadium, the first team home ground, in which tickets were free.[33] The match was drawn 2–2, with Simone Iocolano scoring a brace for Juventus Next Gen[34] and was seen by 28,572 fans present at the stadium.[35] On 3 March 2023, the Juventus Stadium also hosted the first leg of the 2022–23 Coppa Italia Serie C final between Juventus Next Gen and Vicenza with an attendance of 21,572 spectators and with Juventus Next Gen losing 2–1.[36][37]
Since 2024, Juventus Next Gen, alongside Juventus women's team, have been using the Stadio La Marmora-Pozzo in Biella.[38]
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Juventus Next Gen play in the same professional league system as their senior team, rather than a separate league dedicated for youth teams. However, the reserve team may not play in the same division or higher as their senior team, nor in the Coppa Italia, making Juventus Next Gen ineligible for promotion to the Serie A.[39] Should both Juventus and Juventus Next Gen qualify in the same league, the reserve team must play in the league immediately below.[40] Juventus must pay an annual extraordinary fee of €1.2 million to have the reserve team registered to Serie C.[41] In addition, Juventus may not take part to Lega Pro assemblies.[40]
They may insert a maximum of 23 players in their team sheets.[42] Only four players aged more than 23 when the season started may be inserted in the team sheets.[42] Up to a maximum of seven players who had been registered to a FIGC-affiliated club for less than seven sporting seasons may be included in the match list.[42]
In order to be eligible to play for Juventus Next Gen, players must have not been registered to the 25-man list of Serie A players and must have played at most 50 Serie A matches.[42] Instead, to be eligible to play in promotion play-offs and in relegation play-outs, players must have not played over 25 first-team league matches of at least 30 minutes.[42] If a player is suspended, he is unusable in both the first and reserve teams.[42] Suspensions must be served in the team with whom he committed the infraction.[42]
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Juventus's reserve team and the second-team project itself led by FIGC have faced a lot of criticism. On 28 July 2018, before the team's official foundation, Sicula Leonzio president Giuseppe Leonardo criticised Juventus's choice to form their reserve team by saying: "Reserve teams are a flop, an experiment that does not lead to anywhere. Juventus B are going to be harmful and will distort the championship: they are not a newly promoted team but they are certainly going to be strong, we have seen this in women's football that the Bianconeri don't make a bad impression wherever they put their effort".[43] In August 2018, Sportitalia director Michele Criscitellio criticised the second-team project by stating: "The mission of Juve[ntus] B was to get their youngsters to play and not to take away a place from the Serie C clubs to reach the Serie B. The buying power is so different that there would be no competition. It is pointless to make investments for whoever Juventus will end up in the group".[44]
In December 2018, Pisa's fans attacked Juventus U23 by stating, in an official statement: "B teams are an insult to the dignity of those who consider the Lega Pro their own Serie A", further noting that Pisa should not act as a "sparring partner" for "youngsters without a stadium and history". The fans also defected the two league matches against Juventus U23 in the 2018–19 Serie C.[45] In September 2019, Arezzo's fans flew a banner in front of their bus saying "No to B teams".[46] They too defected the match against them as they had done in April.[47]
In November 2021, Padova's fans considered Juventus U23 a "Super League franchise" and defected the two league matches against them.[48] In July 2022, Lega Serie B president Mauro Balata expressed dissent towards reserve teams playing in Serie B, saying: "Our league embraces big and important cities. If another league wants to continue with this second-team project they can do so, but without affecting our rights and our history. It is not fair".[49]
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Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Youth sector
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable players
- As of 18 May 2024[52]
This list includes players that have appeared in at least one first-team game.
Giacomo Vrioni
Enzo Barrenechea- Matías Soulé
Koni De Winter- Joseph Nonge
- Daouda Peeters
David Wesley- Kaio Jorge
Grigoris Kastanos
Samuel Iling-Junior- Stephy Mavididi
Marley Aké
Tommaso Barbieri- Leonardo Cerri
- Marco Da Graca
- Alessandro Di Pardo
- Nicolò Fagioli
- Gianluca Frabotta
- Paolo Gozzi
- Fabio Miretti
- Simone Muratore
- Hans Nicolussi
- Marco Olivieri
- Manolo Portanova
- Nikola Sekulov
- Luca Zanimacchia
Dean Huijsen
Martin Palumbo
Félix Correia- Matheus Pereira
Radu Drăgușin
Hamza Rafia
Kenan Yıldız
Franco Israel
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| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Massimo Brambilla |
| Assistant coach | Christian Terni |
| Athletic coaches | Alberto Pasini |
| Goalkeeper coach | Daniele Borri |
| Technical collaborator | Francesco Spanò |
| Match analyst | Matteo Poletti |
| Team manager | Marco Lombardo |
Last updated: 12 November 2024
Source: Juventus.com
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Below is a list of Juventus Next Gen managers from 2018 until the present day.[53]
| Name | Nationality | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Mauro Zironelli | |
2018–2019 |
| Fabio Pecchia | |
2019–2020 |
| Andrea Pirlo[c] | |
2020 |
| Lamberto Zauli | |
2020–2022 |
| Massimo Brambilla | |
2022–2024 |
| Paolo Montero |  |
2024 |
| Massimo Brambilla | |
2024– |
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| Season | League | Coppa Italia Serie C[56] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Division | Position[57] | |||
| 2018–19 | 3 | Serie C | 12th of 20 | Group stage | |
| 2019–20 | 3 | Serie C | 10th of 20 | Champions | |
| 2020–21 | 3 | Serie C | 10th of 20 | Cancelled[58] | |
| 2021–22 | 3 | Serie C | 8th of 20 | Round of 16 | |
| 2022–23 | 3 | Serie C | 13th of 20 | Runners-up | |
| 2023–24 | 3 | Serie C | 7th of 20 | Round of 16 | |
| 2024–25 | 3 | Serie C | TBD | First round | |
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- Not to be confused with the current Seconda Categoria, the eighth level of the Italian football league system
- Not to be confused with the current Terza Categoria, the ninth level of the Italian football league system
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