The word football can create many feelings in the heart of a football fan. This sport does have a huge influence on people who are keen on it. It inspires them to watch and play passionately, to know everything that happens in the world of football, to follow every match and UEFA tournament excitedly. UEFA is an association and the administrative body of football in Europe and parts of Asia. It’s also one of the continental confederations of FIFA. And it’s not only that, UEFA is a religion for true football lovers. The 60th season of UEFA football tournament is eagerly expected to take place in 2014/2015 in Berlin, Germany. This will be the 23rd season since its name was changed to UEFA Champions League, being previously called the European Champion Clubs’ Cup. The event will be held at the Olympic Stadium in the capital of Germany.

The event

Football fans are looking forward to the new season of UEFA football tournament. Everyone is interested in seeing the team from Gibraltar this season, which joined the association of UEFA in May 2013. The team was accepted as the 54th member of UEFA at the Congress of the association. Let’s wait and see their debut. 77 teams from 53 of the members of UEFA are going to participate in the tournament. The only exception is Lichtenstein because they don’t usually organize a domestic league.

The tournament

The ranking is based on the UEFA country coefficients which define the number of the teams that will play. In the 2013/2014 season, the winners were to receive an extra entry as title holders in case they didn’t qualify for the 2014/15 tournament. There is a restriction which says that each association can’t have more than four teams to take part in the Champions League. If the title holders are among the top three associations and don’t qualify in the top four of their domestic championship, the additional entry becomes an expense of the team that is in the fourth place.

Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying rounds, teams will be divided according to their UEFA club coefficients in 2014. Teams that come from one and the same association can’t compete against each other. There are three qualifying rounds and one pay-off round.

Knock-out

The knock-out phase is a moment when teams have to play against each other on both a home and away basis, excluding the final. In the quarter-final draws teams won’t be seeded and groups from the same association can play against each other.

Financial Regulations

In order to participate in the tournament, teams have to first agree to the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. These measures were taken in September 2009 by the Football Financial Control Panel in order to help professional football teams avoid spending more money than they make in their mission to achieve great results. Such financial matters can have a very bad effect on teams’ long-term existence. Over fifty per cent of football clubs loose a lot of money and the number increases each year. UEFA aims to help clubs which play in the tournament, therefore they have to comply with the regulations. Teams are encouraged to lower their level of spending, in order to prevent clubs of rich owners receive unfair advantages over teams on a lowed budget.

UEFA Champions League has been a subject of eager discussions and excitement among football lovers for years. Soon we’ll have the chance to observe the new tournament and hope for our favourite teams to win.

The writer works for http://www.endoftenancycleaners.net/islington-n1/ and has a lot of time to write for different blogs.