As in previous years, the final tournament, consisting of the semi-finals and final, would originally have been played at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland; however, due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the format of the competition was changed to a straight knockout tournament starting from 2 March 2021.

They were split into two sections, each with 32 teams:[3] In early April 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline for entering the tournament had been postponed until further notice.

[5] All Domestic Champions Path teams in italics were declared champions or selected to play by the national association following an abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and were subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

FC Köln, Angers, Chertanovo Moscow, İstanbul Başakşehir, AZ, Odense, Dinamo Minsk, Górnik Zabrze, Olimpija Ljubljana, Ferencváros, Győri ETO, Apolonia and Waterford would have made their tournament debuts.

[1][7] The tournament would have originally started in September 2020, but was initially delayed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, which caused the group stage of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League to be postponed.

However, due to the continuing pandemic in Europe, UEFA announced a new format on 24 September 2020.