The UEFA Futsal Cup has become the UEFA Futsal Champions League in 2018/19: here is the format and the key dates for the new season.
What is the format?
• The top three nations in the UEFA Futsal National Team coefficient rankings will have two guaranteed entries in the competition: for 2018/19 that is Spain, Portugal and Russia.
• Kazakhstan (ranked fourth) will also have a second entrant for 2018/19 as Spanish champions Inter FS will enter as holders (joined by Barça; no country can enter three teams even if the holders finish outside their national top two).
• There are preliminary, main and elite rounds, played as one-venue mini-tournaments leading to the four-team finals, under the same format introduced for 2017/18.
What are the key dates?
5 July (14:15CET, streamed live): Preliminary & main round draws, Nyon
28 August–2 September: Preliminary round
2–7 October: Main round
12 October (14:00CET, streamed live): Elite round draw, Nyon
13–18 November: Elite round
Early 2019: Finals draw
25 or 26 April: Semi-finals
27 or 28 April: Final & third-place play-off
When do teams enter?
• The lowest-ranked teams in the UEFA Futsal Champions League club coefficient rankings for 2018/19 will begin in the preliminary round (depending on the number of entries, this season 34). Group winners (nine this season) will progress to the main round.
• No teams will receive byes to the elite round, and all contenders excused the preliminary round will begin in the main round.
Main round
• The main round, with a total of 32 clubs, is split into two separate paths.
• Path A will consist of 16 teams including the holders. In addition, the sides ranked 1st to 11th and 16th to 19th in the UEFA Futsal Champions League club coefficient rankings (excluding the holders) will go into Path A. They will be drawn into four groups of four, with the top three in each advancing to the elite round.
• Path B will comprise the other 16 teams (ranked 12th to 15th and 20th to 22nd, plus the nine preliminary round qualifiers for this season). These will be drawn into four groups of four, with the first-placed sides proceeding to the elite round.
Elite round
• The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups, the winners of each progressing to the knockout finals.
• There will be three seeding pots for the elite round draw.
• The four main round Path A winners will be drawn into position one of each group.
• The Path A runners-up will be drawn into position two and will not be able to meet the winners of their main round group.
• The other eight clubs will then be drawn to fill the remaining two positions in each group (sides that finish third in a Path A group can meet either the winners or the runners-up from that section).
• There will be no country protection.
Finals
• As before, the competition concludes with a four-team knockout final tournament hosted by one of the contenders.
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