UEFA have officially announced a new European club football competition. 

The Europa Conference League will be a third-tier tournament, behind the Champions League and Europa League. 

"The new competition will start in 2021 and is aimed at giving more clubs in more countries a chance to participate in European football," UEFA tweeted on Tuesday night. 

Although details are scarce at the moment, BBC Sport suggest that it will primarily be contested by teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations. 

One English team will also enter the play-offs of the new tournament, which will be played on Thursday night - the same night as the Europa League. 

UEFA have already confirmed that during the 2021-24 cycle, competitors in the Europa League will be cut down from 64 to 32, with a playoff round added between the group stage and last 16.

The league winners from every country will still enter the Champions League, but only clubs from the top 15 ranked nations will go into the Europa League. 

Therefore, teams from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland risk going into the Europa Conference League instead. 

Per BBC Sport, the tournament will still have the same format as the Europa League going forward. 

There will be eight groups of four teams and the winners of each go directly into the last 16.

The new playoff round before the knockouts will see teams that came second in their Europa Conference League group play against teams that came third in the Europa League groups. 

Whoever wins the competition will automatically qualify for the Europa League the following season, adding extra incentive for those who compete. 

While the second and third tier of European club football is set for a big shakeup, the Champions League format remains unchanged.