The event will not only have a new name but also a new 48-team group stage with both home and away matches. The details were announced by Uefa, European football's governing body, following a meeting of its executive committee.

Uefa hopes centralised marketing of broadcast rights and of sponsorship, as well as a new logo, will give the competition a new lease of life.

"These changes will improve this historic competition which is very important for Uefa and for European football, as it gives more fans, players and clubs the thrill of European club football", Uefa president Michel Platini explained in a statement.

"I am convinced the new format will give the Uefa Europa League a successful new impetus," Platini added.

The Uefa Cup, which was introduced in the 1971-72 season to replace the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, has struggled in recent seasons, taking second place to the more prestigious and far more lucrative Champions League.

The only European club competition besides the Champions League since the Cup-Winners' Cup was dropped in 1999, the Uefa Cup lost much of its significance despite efforts to revitalise it, such as the introduction of a group stage.

The fact that clubs who have failed to survive the group stage of the Champions League continue in the Uefa Cup has contributed to its perception as a second-rate event.

In an important couple of days for Uefa's executive committee in Bordeaux, it was also confirmed yesterday that Poland and Ukraine will remain as joint hosts for the 2012 European Championship – although it comes with a strict warning for both countries to speed up their preparations.

"The executive committee reconfirmed Uefa's commitment to organise Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine," Platini added at a news conference in France. "At the same time the committee stressed a number of conditions must be met in order to bring forward the whole project."

When asked if Ukraine and Poland could still lose the right to stage the tournament if they failed to meet those conditions, Platini said: "Yes, the completion of the Kiev and Warsaw stadiums remains an essential element of the whole project

"Without Kiev or without Warsaw (stadiums] we cannot have a tournament. We will have stadiums, we will have wonderful stadiums but we were promised hotels and airports, but we won't have airports. We were promised roads. The Kiev and Warsaw governments must deliver."

Uefa also said it may reduce the number of stadiums to be used with a minimum of six and maximum of eight in the light of the slow progress and there may not necessarily be the same number of venues in each country.

"The deadline is May 2009. We will regularly assess the situation on the ground and I, along with the executive, will finally decide on which stadiums, if they are ready, in 2009," Platini said.

The Scottish Football Association has expressed a desire in the past to step in as emergency hosts if Poland and Ukraine failed to meet the necessary criteria on time, but Platini added that his organisation had not yet looked into a "plan B". "But if we don't have a stadium neither in Kiev or Warsaw, we will have to find something different," he added.

Polish FA president Michal Listkiewicz said: "We can now concentrate on getting on with the job."

Grigoriy Surkis, president of the Ukrainian FA, admitted he was relieved with yesterday's outcome. "I'm happy with the decision, it means we can continue with our preparations," he added. "We have been told to step up our efforts in regards our infrastructure but we have shown enough progress to satisfy Uefa for the time being."

In other business, Uefa said it will decide in December whether Wembley will host the 2011 Champions League final. Wembley is widely expected to be chosen as the venue, with Lansdowne Road in Dublin, Ireland, considered favourite to host the 2011 final of the Europa League. But Platini said: "We have not taken a decision about the 2011 Champions League," Platini said. "We will soon, at the next committee meeting (in December]."

And, as expected, the proposal to expand the European championship finals from 16 to 24 teams was approved unanimously.