Fresh look for UEFA competitions

The 2007 UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup will have a new look aimed at increasing the partnership between European football's governing body and its African counterpart.

Educational aim
UEFA's Executive Committee, meeting in Malta, approved a revised format for the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup, involving football co-operation between Europe and Africa. A four-day conference of national youth coaches from the two continents will be held in February or March 2007, while an all-star European Under-18 team will play an African equivalent over two matches. "We will have a more education-oriented approach by bringing coaches together, and hope this will have a better long-term effect on football in Africa," Mr Olsson explained.

Twelve teams
The Executive Committee also approved a revised competition format for the 2007/09 UEFA Women's Championship, the finals of which will feature 12 teams - an increase from the current eight. There will also be a change to the qualifying competition, with open qualifying replacing the previous two-division system. The hosts will be automatically appointed, and a qualifying round will be followed by a qualifying group phase comprising six groups of five teams.

Women's football growing
"UEFA's decision is partly based on the success of the [2005] competition in England, and also because women's football is growing, with more girls and women playing the game," said UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson. "We hope this will help boost the development of women's football in Europe." UEFA has been giving added emphasis to the women's game as part of its activities in recent times.

Intertoto places
The principles for allocating places for the UEFA Intertoto Cup from 2006 were approved by UEFA's executive body. The main access list of competing teams will be reduced in accordance with the number of associations that wish to participate. A stand-by list will be created, at the bottom of the access list, for the vacant places - as not all 52 member countries will enter a team - and these berths will be allocated to the associations in coefficient ranking order.

Format change
The format of the Intertoto Cup will change for the 2006/07 season. Under the new format, decided in September, three rounds will be played instead of five. The eleven victorious sides from the Intertoto Cup third round will go through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

U21 ranking system
A coefficient ranking system is being introduced for future UEFA European Under-21 Championships, taking into account performances in the last two qualifying competitions. For the 2006/07 edition, coefficients will be based 50 per cent each on 2002-04 qualifying and 2004-06 qualifying.

Important shop window
The European body decided in June to move the European U21 Championship final round to odd years from 2007 to avoid a clash with the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, and to help the competition's development. With the silver goal no longer applicable, the forthcoming play-offs for the 2006 edition will go into extra time if matches finish level after 180 minutes. The away goals rule will apply in this period.