Next Season's format for the Champions League

There will be 64 teams involved in 2000-2001. The top 5 teams in each of the 5 countries with the most TV viewers will receive automatic qualification. The Champions of any country which didn't exist before 1990 will have to take part in 3 qualifying rounds which start the day after the quarter-finals of Euro 2000.

The seeded teams will be the ones which everyone has heard of.

In the first round, there will be 8 groups of 8, with each team playing the other 7 home and away ( or on a neutral ground if one team is from somewhere too cold and icy.) The top 7 will qualify for the second stage. To get through this stage, the teams have to finish in the top 4, but extra places will be held over for teams who attracted the biggest viewing figures in any match.

Stage 3 is again a league format, allowing the top 2 in each group to qualify, plus all the losers if they have appeared at least once before in this competition. This should take us to about mid-September.

After two more months of group matches, there is a winter break allowing UEFA time to type out the format for the following year, and the quarter finals will take place just as each country's domestic competition approaches its final, critical stage.

Clubs will play over three legs - home, away and at Wembley, just to make sure Arsenal go out. The final will be held between two of these teams: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Lazio or either of the Milan teams.

If any other team has managed to qualify, then they will have to play a qualifying match in which a viewing audience of 30 million plus will be required for entry into the final. If they fail, then the club with the most expensive player in the world at that time will be selected for the final.

Matches will take place every bloody day of the week.