According to the new format of international club competitions next season, "Žalgiris" will have a chance to compete in three UEFA tournaments. The new format of club competitions for the cycle 2021-2024 was approved at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting, and more detailed information was released about the new, third tournament. "Žalgiris", as the Lithuanian champion, acquired the sporting right to start the 2021/2022 season in elite competitions - the UEFA Champions League, where they will play in the first qualifying round. In order to advance to the group stage, Vilnius team will have to defeat four opponents. The first barrier will be particularly significant, as winning it would secure the possibility of at least 2 more confrontations - starting from the Europa League and ending with the new third tournament, called the UEFA Europa Conference League. If the Žalgiris team were to be eliminated in the second stage of the Champions League, they would then await the competition in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. In this scenario, if the first opponent is not overcome in the Europa League, the season would continue in the Conference League play-offs. Winning the first opponent in the Europa League, but losing to the second, would see the team advance to the Conference League group stage. If the first Champions League barrier cannot be overcome, further matches would be played in the second round of the new Conference League qualifiers. To reach the group stage of this tournament, three opponents would need to be defeated. In the qualification matches of all tournaments, Žalgiris will be in the Champions path until the group stage. This means that the potential opponents will only be champions of other countries. In the group stage of the new Conference League, 32 teams will compete - including 5 champions from countries, 17 teams that have passed the qualifiers, and 10 teams eliminated in the Europa League play-offs. The teams will be divided into 8 groups of 4. "The new format of the UEFA club tournament is more open than ever before. More clubs will be able to play more matches, and there will be more countries participating in the group stages," commented UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin on the changes. The format of the Champions League will remain the same, but in the Europa League group stage, there will be 32 teams instead of 48. Also, according to the new format, only teams eliminated from the Champions League, the 15 highest-ranked country cup winners, and 5 teams from the highest-ranked countries based on performance in the leagues will play in the Europa League. Representatives of lower-ranked countries will participate in the Conference League. The three representatives of the countries ranked 30-50 in the rankings, including Lithuania, will all start in the first round of qualifications.
