Compared to the previous edition of the European Cup, radical changes were made to the format of the tournament, due to a recently expired contract that bound UEFA to the EBU for the transmission of the final.

This gave occasion for a general review of the format, which attracted the interest of new and financially well-off private television companies.

Since the title holders (Milan) qualified via their domestic league and club seeding coefficient, the title holder spot was vacated and the following changes to the default access list were made: The teams were ranked according to their 1995 UEFA seeding coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 1989–90 to 1993–94.

Ten of the sixteen participating teams made their UEFA Champions League group stage debut: AEK Athens, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Casino Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Hajduk Split, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Steaua București.

Casino Salzburg, Hajduk Split, Manchester United and Steaua București were the first teams to qualify for group stage from Austria, Croatia, England and Romania respectively.