Juventus Next Gen

Juventus Next Gen (Italian pronunciation: [juˈvɛntus nɛkst dʒɛn]), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG, 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 B, and play their home games at the Stadio Giuseppe Moccagatta, in Alessandria.

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. They remained the sole Italian reserve team until August 2023 when Atalanta founded its own.

Due to the nature of the club as a reserve team, Juventus Next Gen needs to comply to certain regulations, such as being ineligible for promotion to Serie A and not 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 and the disruption of the league's competitive balance.

Reserve teams were introduced in Italy in the early 20th century, and played in the Seconda Categoria [it]. On 17 April 1904, the second team of Juventus lost the final 4–0 to Genoa II at the Ponte Carrega field. 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.

Juventus II also took part in the Campionato De Martino [it], another league dedicated to reserve teams, until the competition ceased in 1976; they won the 1959–60 edition.

Juventus even had a third team who played friendly matches against local teams, and competed in the Terza Categoria [it] in the early 20th century.

A few years before their foundation, Juventus' sporting directors Fabio Paratici and Giuseppe Marotta had already made up an unofficial structure in order to follow youth players' progresses. Following the reintroduction of professional reserve teams in Italian football after over 40 years, Juventus U23 were founded on 3 August 2018 and were officially admitted to the Serie C championship.

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. 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. Juventus U23 ended their first season in 12th place with 42 points in 37 games, and were eliminated in the group stage of the Coppa Italia Serie C.