UEFA fine-tunes club competition regulations for 2018-19 season onwards

PARIS, March 27 (Xinhua) -- UEFA on Tuesday announced a string of changes to its regulations for club competitions, which will be applied from the 2018-19 season and run for a three-year cycle.

UEFA said that following its Executive Committee meeting in Bratislava in February, and decisions taken by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on March 3 in Zurich, more changes have been confirmed in relation to the new club competition regulations coming into effect for the next campaign onward.

The regulations stipulate that a fourth substitute listed on the match sheet may take part in knockout matches exclusively during extra time, and will not affect the other three substitutions.

A total of 23 players may be included on the match sheet for the UEFA Champions League final, UEFA Europa League final and UEFA Super Cup, compared with 18 players for all other matches, allowing 12 substitutes (instead of seven) to sit on bench in these finals.

For UEFA, the change gives clubs and coaches more flexibility regarding substitutes, and facilitates their squad management for the most important fixture of the season.

Starting from the playoffs en route to the final, UEFA Champions League matches will kick off at 21:00 CET. On every group-stage matchday, two of the Tuesday and two of the Wednesday matches will kick off at 18:55 CET. However, all fixtures on the final matchday will be played simultaneously.

UEFA Europa League matches from the group stage until round of 16 matches will kick off at 18:55 and 21:00 CET. In principle, games within a group will be played simultaneously on the last matchday. The quarterfinals, semifinals and final will kick off at 21:00 CET. This also applies to the UEFA Super Cup, with exceptions to the rule made by the UEFA administration.

After the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, a club may register three new eligible players without any restriction. It does not impose restrictions on the eligibility for competitions of players registered for a new club during the winter transfer window.

Under current rules, Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho and Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are not entitled to play for their new clubs in European tournaments following the winter window move.

From the 2018-19 season on, teams that have won the UEFA Europa League (including its predecessor the UEFA Cup) three consecutive times or at least five times may wear a multiple-winner badge on the shirt sleeve, as was already the case in the UEFA Champions League.

The only team entitled to wear this badge next season would be La Liga outfit Sevilla, who have won the competition five times, including hat-tricks from 2014 to 2016. Enditem