Two Champions League rule changes announced by UEFA ahead of new season

UEFA have announced two rule changes ahead of this season's Champions League. Qualifying for the competition has already started, with the draw for the league phase not until late August.

The same goes for UEFA's other primary competitions, the Conference League and Europa League. And the regulations for each competition have been updated, with two changes announced on Tuesday.

Firstly, the yellow card threshold has been raised. A player will now need four yellow cards rather than three to pick up the first one-match ban.

And secondly, UEFA have removed its long-standing regulation that prevented stadium clocks moving beyond 45 and 90 minutes. This change has been seen in the Premier League for the last two years.

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The draw for the Champions League play-off round was made on Monday. Celtic are the only British club involved in the round and will face LASK of Austria in their bid to reach the league phase.

Five English teams will play in the 2026-27 Champions League. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool qualified through their league position.

In the Europa League, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Sunderland will feature. And in the Conference League, which Palace won last season, Brighton are the Premier League's sole representatives.

What do you make of the rule changes? Have your say in the comments section.

UEFA has been in the headlines over the past week after its 55 member nations unanimously voted to pull out of FIFA competitions during an emergency virtual meeting on Friday. It comes after FIFA controversially unveiled plans to sell off its competitions to private investors.

In response, the European body said: "As a result of today's discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership."

UEFA invited other confederations to follow their lead and reportedly believe that a number of Asian countries are also against the plan. "National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football's greatest competitions or bear the consequences," it added.

"This is not a 'democratic decision', but governance by intimidation - an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game."