Gothenburg Great Neil Simpson insists competing in the Uefa Youth League will be a major step in the development of Aberdeen’s emerging talent.
An Aberdeen under-19s side will face Puskas Akademia of Hungary in a second round, first leg clash at Pittodrie on Wednesday (7.45pm).
It will be the first time the Dons have competed in the tournament.
The Uefa Youth League is effectively the Champions League of youth football with Europe’s top clubs competing.
The youth teams of giants like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, AC Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich are involved in the Champions League Path.
Aberdeen qualified for the prestigious tournament in the Domestic Champions path after winning the Club Academy Scotland Elite U18 league title last season.
Simpson experienced first hand the benefit of playing overseas teams from a young age.
He faced Ballon d’Or winners Ruud Gullit (Netherlands) and Lothar Matthaus (Germany) on Scotland youth duty before he was 18 years old.
At 21, he was part of the legendary Aberdeen side who beat Real Madrid in May 1983 to lift the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Later that yea, Simpson scored the opener in a 2-0 win against Hamburg as Aberdeen won the Uefa Super Cup.
Aberdeen remain the only Scottish club to win two European trophies.
Simpson said: “The Uefa Youth League will be a great experience for the players involved.
“I remember going away with Scotland youth teams and playing in youth tournaments.
“It was a huge part of the learning process for me that prepared me for playing in the big European games with Aberdeen.
“I played against Gullit and Matthäus at under-18’s and Franco Baresi (Italy, World Cup winner) at under-21’s.
“And I just got used to that.
“The more Aberdeen young players get used to playing other European teams and players the better.
“When they are with the young age groups at Aberdeen they go overseas to play youth tournaments in Europe.
“It is a learning process and the Uefa Youth League will be great for them.”
Call for fans to back young stars
Legend Simpson, 62, held senior roles within Aberdeen’s youth academy.
He was the Dons’ pathways manager before recently leaving the club to pursue a new opportunity outwith football.
The first team of Puskas Akademia compete in the Hungarian top-flight, and also took part in the Uefa Conference League this season, losing to Fiorentina on penalties in the play-off round.
While Aberdeen are in the Domestic Champions Path of the Uefa Youth League, they are joined by Celtic in the competition – who qualify through the UEFA Champions League Path.
Both paths are played separately this year, then merge for the knockout phase in 2025.
The Champions League path consists of the 36 youth teams of the clubs who qualified for the league phase of the 2024/25 Uefa Champions League.
The Domestic Champions path, with Aberdeen, includes the 52 domestic youth champions of all Uefa member associations.
In the Domestic Champions path, there are three rounds of two-legged ties with Aberdeen entering in the second round.
The ten third-round winners will progress to the round of 32.
Aberdeen fans turned out in force to see the club’s U18s stars win 3-2 against Celtic on the night they were presented with the league title trophy last season.
Simpson hopes the Red Army can get behind the young guns again.
He said: “It would be great if there could be a big crowd for the game against Puskas Akademia
“The crowd when they played Celtic on the day they received the league trophy was fantastic.
“The response they got was great.
“It was such a brilliant, magical night.”
Aberdeen without four key players
Aberdeen will play the second leg in Hungary on Wednesday, November 6.
The Uefa Youth League is an U19s tournament.
That means players who helped Aberdeen qualify for the tournament last season but have since graduated from U19s level are still eligible for selection.
However, coaches Scott Anderson and Stuart Duff will be without four members of their league title-winning side for the Euro clash.
Due to being sent on loan to Scottish lower league sides this season, Alfie Bavidge, Adam Emslie, Findlay Marshall, Dylan Lobban and Blair McKenzie are all ineligible.
Simpson said: “Aberdeen will have some players missing because some of them are out on loan.
“That’s a shame because it would be a great experience for them to be involved in a Uefa competition with Aberdeen.
“However, Aberdeen have to look after each player individually and what is the best for them.”
Anderson: ‘It’s going to be a different challenge for the boys’
Dons youth coach Anderson concurs playing in the Uefa Youth League provides a great opportunity for Aberdeen’s youngsters.
He said: “It’s a really exciting prospect and it’s going to be a different challenge for the boys.
“We’re going to have a young side because five of the lads are out on loan to play in the SPFL.
“Due to that we will have a young group – and we’ll have to see how we handle it.
“We had to make a decision about whether we kept players back from going out on loan for this tournament.
“We felt for their development it was important they were out playing, that means we won’t be at full strength for this tie.
“However, it provides opportunities for other lads.”
Youth gets Pittodrie outing
Anderson believes playing in Europe is a deserved reward for Aberdeen’s stellar campaign last season and also hopes the Red Army will turn out in good numbers to back the youngsters.
He added: “It’s something the boys are all looking forward to and hopefully we get a few people along to Pittodrie to back them.
“It’s a reward for last season to be in the competition and we want the players to experience situations like this so it’s a really good opportunity for us.”
The Dons have done their due diligence on Puskas Akademia, but Anderson is keen to focus on how his charges approach the tie.
“We’ve seen some footage of them and we know a few different bits and pieces about them,” he said.
“We’ll get that across to the players, but in the main we’ll try to concentrate on how we’re going to perform.
“These games will be a learning curve and provide good experiences for the boys.”
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