Champions League starts today, all the new rules from this season

The main stage of the 2026-27 Champions League season begins tonight. This year's league stage will see 36 teams face each other over eight match days.

PSG won the Champions League for the second time in May, beating Arsenal on penalties. This time, the team will be aiming to win the title for the third time in a row.

Luis Enrique's team will face tough competition, with Europe's biggest teams including Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

However, these big teams will first have to go through the league stage. The top eight teams will directly qualify for the last 16. And the teams ranked ninth to twenty-fourth will have to play in the play-off round.

While there are no changes to the qualifying rules for the third round of the Champions League group stage, a few new rules have been added to UEFA's top club competition.

UEFA is trying to reduce time wasting in the Champions League by following the rules introduced this season in Europe's top leagues, which are stricter on referees regarding time wasting .

Players who are substituted must leave the field within 10 seconds of the start of the game. Otherwise, the new player will have to wait until the first break after the game has stopped for one minute.

In addition, the referee will have the right to give players a five-second countdown to restart play from throw-ins and goal kicks.

If a team does not follow this counting rule, the throw-in will be reversed towards the opponent. And if the goalkeeper does not take the goal kick in the allotted time, the opposing team will be awarded a corner.

Players must remain off the field for at least one minute if they need medical treatment before they can return to the game. However, this rule does not apply to goalkeepers.

There are also some exceptions to this rule. For example, if a player is the victim of a foul and the opposing player receives a yellow or red card for that foul, then this rule will not apply.

UEFA is expanding the scope of VAR.
UEFA has announced that VAR will be used in some new cases from the 2026-27 season. This includes cases such as penalizing the wrong player.

If the referee penalises the wrong player, VAR officials can now intervene. However, the original offence cannot be reviewed again.

Even if a second yellow card is shown incorrectly, officials in the VAR room will be able to intervene, giving the referee the opportunity to go to the pitchside monitor and review the incident again.

Two more issues have been added under VAR. One is a foul by the attacking team before a corner or free-kick. The other is clarity on possible handballs from goal kicks.

What punishment will players receive for covering their faces
? The issue of covering the face has been a hot topic of discussion ever since Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni covered his face with his jersey while talking to Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior during a Champions League match in February.

Prestianni was initially accused of racist remarks. He was later found guilty of homophobic behaviour by a UEFA investigation, resulting in a six-match ban, three of which were suspended.

Following this incident, FIFA introduced a rule for the 2026 World Cup. According to this rule, covering one's face during an argument with an opposing player can result in a red card.

Miguel Almiron was the first player to be sent off under this rule in the Paraguay-Turkey group match, followed by Ecuador's Piero Incapie during the last-16 loss to Mexico.

However, UEFA is not following FIFA's lead. They have confirmed that referees can show a yellow card if a player covers his face in a way that is considered unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Like Prestianni, players can be punished later, if necessary, through an investigation after the match.

FIFA also sought VAR intervention when corners were wrongly awarded at the World Cup. However, UEFA said that in their case, corner decisions would only be changed when the matter was completely clear and a decision could be made without delaying the game.

UEFA has also changed
the rules regarding the number of yellow cards accumulated in the main round.  Previously, players would be banned for one match if they collected three yellow cards in a row. Then, players would be banned for five and seven cards.

This season, players will have a slightly increased chance. Now, the first ban will come after four yellow cards, followed by six, eight and ten cards.

Yellow cards will be erased after the quarter-finals, meaning that a player will not be eligible to play in the final unless they receive a red card in the second leg of the semi-finals.