"?UEFA have confirmed that the top four clubs from each of Europe's four highest ranked leagues will automatically qualify for the Champions League group stage from the 2018/19 season onward. The changes have initially been set for three years to the end of the 2020/21 campaign.
It will remove the need for the fourth placed Premier League or La Liga clubs, for example, to negotiate a qualifying round before the group stage, should those leagues remain among the continent's top four national associations.
OFFICIAL: The top four teams from the four highest-ranked leagues will enter the #UCL group stage from 2018. pic.twitter.com/TUva8MIGiE
A UEFA statement clarified the key changes as follows:
"The UEFA Europa League winners will automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage (currently they can potentially take part in a play-off round).
"The top four clubs from the four top-ranked national associations will now qualify automatically for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
"A new system for the club coefficients: clubs will be judged on their own records (deletion of the country share for individual club coefficient unless that coefficient is lower than 20% of the association's coefficient).
"Historical success in the competition will also be acknowledged in coefficient calculation (points for previous European titles with a weighted system for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League titles)."
European football's governing body have also stated that financial distribution between clubs will be greater in both the Champions League and the Europa League, while it is also stated that "sporting performance" will be better rewarded, and "market pool share" will lessen.
UEFA are keen to stress that the 32-team format of the Champions League will remain the same, while the 'champions' and 'league' routes in the qualifying rounds will also be left untouched.
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