European governing body Uefa has announced a slew of changes to the Champions League and Europa League qualfication processes from the upcoming season on Tuesday, including increasing the number of teams that qualify directly for the UCL group stages from 22 to 26.

The 26 teams will decided as follows:

UEFA Champions League holders, UEFA Europa League holders, top four from associations ranked 1st to 4th (Spain, Germany, England, Italy), top two from associations ranked 5th and 6th (France, Russia), champions of associations ranked 7th to 10th (Portugal, Ukraine, Belgium, Turkey)

Key Changes

  • Twenty-six teams now gain direct entry to the UEFA Champions League group stage – including the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League winners – with six qualifying places available.
  • Every team eliminated in UEFA Champions League qualifying will get a second chance in the UEFA Europa League
  • Seventeen teams now gain direct entry to the UEFA Europa League group stage, with ten teams directly transferring from the UEFA Champions League play-offs and third qualifying round plus 21 qualifying places in two different paths (UEFA Europa League champions and league paths)
  • There will be a preliminary round in qualifying for the UEFA Champions League (played as a knockout mini-tournament) and UEFA Europa League (played as two-legged ties) 
  • There will be a preliminary round in qualifying for the UEFA Champions League (played as a knockout mini-tournament) and UEFA Europa League (played as two-legged ties)   
  • There is no change to the formats from the group stage onwards but there will be staggered kick-offs – 18.55 CET (2325 IST) and 21.00 CET (0130 IST) – in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League  

Complete details here:

More to follow...