UEFA has today announced the highly anticipated launch of its commercial rights sales for the 2018-21 club competitions rights cycle, with the UEFA Executive Committee agreeing the new commercial concept to be applied for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Various format changes will be incorporated into the club competitions to ensure that the UEFA Champions League maintains its position as the finest club football competition in the world and the UEFA Europa League as club football's most diverse competition.

A revision of the UEFA Champions League access path will see changes to qualification with the most notable being the direct access to the group stage of four clubs from each of the top four national associations. For the upcoming cycle, it was also decided to have two separate kick-off times during the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, at 19.00CET (two matches) and 21.00CET (six matches), allowing fans opportunities to watch more matches.

The new access list continues to provide clubs from each of the 55 national associations with a chance to qualify for the group stage of both club competitions. It will also ensure that all domestic champions eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League get a second chance in the European competitions by entering a dedicated champions' path in UEFA Europa League qualification.

TEAM Marketing ('TEAM'), UEFA's exclusive marketing partner for the exploitation of certain commercial rights in relation to club competitions, will be responsible for the sale of all media and sponsorship rights. TEAM's long-standing partnership with UEFA now extends to over 25 years. The media rights for both competitions will be sold on a market-by-market basis through a staggered sales process, commencing in China on 13 December, followed by Japan on 14 December.

All relevant information, including launch dates, will be published on www.uefa.org in due course. For enquiries about the sales process, any interested parties may contact TEAM at info@team.ch.