The schedule of the competition was as follows.[1]
Phase
Round
First leg
Second leg
Qualifying
Qualification round I
30 September–4 October 2015
Qualification round II
16−18 October 2015
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
11 November 2015
16 December 2015
Semi-finals
3 February 2016
10 February 2016
Final
16 April 2016
30 April 2016
Qualifying rounds
Qualification round I
Thirteen teams took part in the first qualifying round. They were drawn into one group of six and one group of seven teams, who played on 30 September−4 October 2015. The top four teams of each group advanced to the next round.[2]
Eight teams took part in the second qualifying round. They were drawn into two groups of four teams, which played on 16−18 October 2015. The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarterfinals.[3]
These teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follow:
In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
The first legs were played on 11 November, and the second legs were played on 16 December 2015.