Gerard Izuora
The Union of European Football Associations, UEFA, has made multiple changes to the Champions League and Europa League beginning from the 2018/19 season.
The European apex football body announced the changes on website on Tuesday.
As part of the new changes, kick-off times for UEFA Champions League and Europa League games next season will now be 18.55CET and 21.00CET, with every team eliminated from the Champions League group stage dropping into the Europa League.
The statement reads: “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 is no change to the formats from the group stage onwards but there will be staggered kick-offs –18.55CET and 21.00CET – in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.”