No. 26/2016

TO UEFA MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS

For the attention of the President and the General Secretary

Your reference Your correspondence of Our reference Date KPCLC/hes/tht 3 June 2016

2016/17 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League – access to the competitions

Dear Sir or Madam,

Following the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League (UCL) and UEFA Europa League (UEL) finals, please find enclosed an adjusted access list for the 2016/17 competitions.

The specific adjustments made in relation to both competitions are explained below.

UEFA Champions League

Having won the title, Real Madrid CF have direct access to the UCL group stage as UCL titleholders and consequently vacate the place reserved for the runners-up (RU) in Spain’s domestic championship.

In accordance with paragraph 3.04 of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League regulations, the UEL titleholder is guaranteed a place in the UCL, as a minimum in the play-offs, and it has priority when it comes to filling a vacancy in the group stage created by the UCL titleholder. Consequently, Sevilla FC, as UEL titleholders, will take the place in the UCL group stage initially reserved for Spain’s runners-up.

No other adjustments to the access list are required in relation to the UCL.

UEFA Europa League

As mentioned above, Sevilla FC, as UEL titleholders, have direct access to the UCL group stage and consequently vacate the place in the third qualifying round reserved for the team in seventh place in Spain’s domestic championship (Sevilla FC were entitled to participate as the team ranked seventh in the Spanish domestic championship, as FC Barcelona are the domestic champions and cup winners).

As stipulated in paragraph 3.06 of the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League regulations, if the UEL titleholder qualifies for the UEL via one of its domestic competitions, the number of places to which its association is entitled in the UEL is decreased by one. The access list is rebalanced accordingly and priority for the

UEL is given to the highest-ranked domestic cup winner (or the club replacing it if it qualifies for the UCL via its domestic championship) that does not automatically qualify for the round in question.

In this case, as Sevilla FC are guaranteed a place in the UCL group stage as UEL titleholders, the following procedure must be applied to fill the vacancy created by Sevilla in the UEL third qualifying round.

In line with the principle outlined in Annex A and paragraph 3.06 of the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League regulations, whereby if the access list needs to be adjusted, priority is given to domestic cup winners (or the clubs replacing them if they qualify for the UCL via their domestic championship), the vacancy created by the UEL titleholder in the third qualifying round of the UEL will benefit the cup winner (or the club replacing it if it qualifies for the UCL via its domestic championship) of the association ranked 18th in the 2016/17 access list (i.e. Cyprus), who will enter the competition in the third qualifying round, instead of in the second qualifying round.

As the filling of that vacancy has a knock-on effect on the previous stage of the competition, the following change will be applied to rebalance the access list for the three qualifying rounds:  The cup winner (or the clubs replacing them if they qualify for UCL via their domestic championships) from the associations ranked 27th and 28th in the access list (i.e. Serbia and Slovenia) will enter the competition in the second qualifying round, instead of the first qualifying round.

For ease of reference, a revised access list for the 2016/17 UEFA club competitions is enclosed. If you have any questions regarding this new access list, please contact Tobias Hedtstück in the club competitions unit ( tobias.hedtstueck@uefa.ch /  +41 (0)22 707 2052).

We wish your participants all the best in the 2016/17 UEFA club competitions.

Yours faithfully,

UEFA

Theodore Theodoridis General Secretary ad interim

Enclosure - 2016/17 access list cc (with enclosure) - UEFA Executive Committee - Club Competitions Committee - European members of the FIFA Executive Committee - FIFA, Zurich - ECA, Nyon - EPFL, Nyon

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