How many Premier League clubs will qualify for the new-look Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League next season and will seventh place earn a spot in Europe?
With Manchester City and Arsenal knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals and Liverpool and West Ham exiting the Europa League at the same stage, the prospects of the Premier League earning an additional Champions League place are now extremely slim.
So working on the basis no extra spot is available for that competition, here’s how many European places are up for grabs and who could get them…
The Champions League is increasing from a 32-team competition to a 36-team competition next season (more on that below) but with the Premier League now unlikely to earn an additional fifth qualifying spot based on coefficient rankings the top four sides in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League.
They will all go directly into the new league phase of the competition, with no qualifying or play-off rounds required.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa are currently in line for a Champions League place.
Tottenham, though, are still in contention for a top-four finish.
Fifth place in the Premier League will qualify for next season’s Europa League, again with the team going directly into the new league phase, rather than needing to play any additional qualifying or play-off game. Tottenham are currently in position to take this spot.
With a seven-point gap between Tottenham and sixth-placed Manchester United, the identity of the top five is, at present at least, seemingly settled.
The winners of the FA Cup also take a place in the Europa League.
If the winners of the FA Cup finish in the top five of the Premier League – and therefore qualify for the Champions League or Europa League through their league position – their Europa League spot for FA Cup glory will be passed down to the next-highest ranked Premier League side not competing in Europe.
That is currently Manchester United, who are in sixth.
There is a bonus Europa League spot available should Aston Villa win the Europa Conference League and not finish in the Champions League or Europa League qualifying places.
Victory in that competition would earn them a Europa League place next term.
If Villa do qualify for the Champions League or Europa League, their bonus Europa League qualifying spot would not be passed on to another Premier League team.
There is one place available to Premier League sides for the UEFA Conference League – note the subtle name change – next season.
Qualification for this tournament is given to the winners of the Carabao Cup. However, because Liverpool are on course for a Champions League spot, this qualifying place will be passed down to the next highest-ranked team which hasn’t qualified for Europe.
This would currently be Manchester United, who sit sixth in the Premier League. However, they may win the FA Cup and qualify for the Europa League or they will lose to Manchester City, who are on course to finish in the top four and the spot will be awarded to sixth place.
In that case, the UEFA Conference League place would go down to seventh, which is currently occupied by Newcastle.
Taking the total number of teams from 32 to 36 in the Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
Similar changes will be made to the Europa League and Europa Conference League formats, with 36 teams in each.
Teams in the Europa League will have eight matches against eight different opponents in the league phase.
In the Europa Conference League – renamed the UEFA Conference League – teams will have six matches against six different opponents in the league phase. The UEFA Conference League games will be played between September and December.
The knockout phase of the competitions will take place through the second half of the season and culminate at the end of the campaign, as they do now.
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