UEFA Cup to change format from 2004/05

From 2004/05, the UEFA Cup format will be based on a first round knockout phase of 80 teams, followed by a group phase involving 40 teams in eight groups of five. The 24 teams who negotiate this stage (the top three from each group) will then be joined by eight teams from the UEFA Champions League for the final knockout phase, which will consist of 32 teams.

Lennart Johansson, UEFA President, stated, 'We have acted to refresh and develop the competition for the future, Today's decision follows an extensive consultation exercise with European football and reflects the consensus for change.'

The new format means that there will be 16 matchdays in the UEFA Cup calendar with a total of 221 matches being played. A significant difference between the UEFA Champions league format and the new UEFA Cup format is that the UEFA Cup group stage will not feature clubs playing each other on a home and away basis. Instead the five clubs in each group will play the other four teams in the group only once.

UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches will not necessarily be played on alternative weeks as UEFA is keen to preserve free weeks for players, but the final series of UEFA Cup group matches will be played in a week when there is no UEFA Champions League action. The group stage of the competition will take place in October, November and December.