UEFA Approves Third Inter-Club Competition

By Danny Ward

The UEFA governing board has given approval for the introduction of a third tier European club competition.

The competition, which is yet to be named, will follow the  Champions League and the Europa League in terms of hierarchy.

President of the European Club Association, Andrea Agnelli, confirmed on Tuesday permission has been given for the competition to start in the 2021/22 season, but pending the approval of the UEFA Executive Committee.

"Pending approval of the UEFA ExCo, the 'green light' has been given to introduce the third competition, bringing the overall number of clubs to 96, as of the 2021/22 season,” said the Juventus and ECA chief.

The new competition is expected to address the huge number of clubs that participate in the Europa League group stage.

The Champions League has 32 teams competing in the group stages while the Europa League has 42.

The third competition will be introduced alongside a new format which will peg the teams at that level of all three UEFA competitions at 32.

The qualification process for the new competition is not yet known, but it is expected to take the format used for the Cup Winners’ Cup which was last played in 1999.