No fewer than 13 newly independent nations competed for the first time – due mainly to the fall of Socialist rule in Europe in the early 1990s.

Russia, who competed in 1994 were joined by nine further former Soviet Union states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine.

The exclusion (for political reasons) of the team from Serbia and Montenegro, then known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continued.

Czechoslovakia became two separate nations – teams from the Czech Republic and Slovakia complete the list of new entrants.

The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis to determine the final four, one of whom would host the last four matches.