The UEFA executive committee, chaired by UEFA President, Lennart Johansson, today completed a two-day meeting at UEFA Headquarters, Nyon, Switzerland.

The main decisions of the meeting, included:

– a reform of the UEFA Cup – from 2004/05 the competition format will be based on a first round knock-out (80 teams) followed by a group phase (40 teams in 8 groups of 5 teams) with the 24 teams qualifying then joined by 8 teams from the UEFA Champions League for the final knock-out rounds (32 teams)
– an improved qualification format for the FIFA World Cup 2006 – 13 out of 51 participating teams to qualify based on 3 groups of 7 teams and 5 groups of 6 teams with the 8 group winners and 2 best runners-up qualifying automatically and play-offs between the 6 other runners-up (proposal to be agreed with FIFA); and
– an improved qualification format for the UEFA EURO 2008 – 14 to qualify from 50 participating teams based on 1 group of 8 teams and 6 groups of 7 teams with qualification for the 7 group winners and 7 runners-up.

In addition the Executive Committee:
– received positive reports on preparations for UEFA EURO 2004 ™ and the sale of UEFA Champions League TV and new media rights; and
– agreed to appoint T.E.A.M. Marketing AG as the marketing agency for the U-21 European Championship 2004.

Commenting on the UEFA Cup decision, UEFA President, Lennart Johansson, said:

‘We have acted to refresh and develop the competition for the future. Today’s decision follows an extensive consultation exercise within European football and reflects the consensus for change. We believe that the proposed format will add a new and exciting element to the UEFA Cup, which will boost it as an attractive European club competition’.