On Thursday night, West Ham beat German side SC Freiburg in the Round of 16 in the UEFA Europa League. Liverpool also picked up a dominant win in the same competition against Sparta Parha, with a 6-1 win, taking their aggregate to 11-2.
A few nights ago, Premier League clubs also provided good results well in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. Manchester City beat Copenhagen 3-1, taking their aggregate to 6-2, while Arsenal beat Porto 4-2 on penalties.
Should Premier League clubs continue to perform well in the UEFA competitions, fifth place could be enough to secure a Champions League spot.
How the Additional Champions League Spots Will be Determined
The Champions League is expanding, with four additional spots in the competition’s main phase. Among these, two spots are to be awarded to the top-performing leagues in Europe this season, with England, Germany, and Italy being the prime contenders this term. This suggests that the team finishing fifth in the Premier League could clinch automatic qualification for the Champions League.
UEFA’s association coefficient rankings, which evaluate the performance of all European clubs in UEFA competitions, determine which two leagues will receive these additional spots. Clubs earn two points for each win and one point for a draw, with further bonus points gained through advancement in various stages of the competitions, prioritizing achievements in the Champions League, followed by the Europa League and the Europa Conference League.
The total points earned by clubs from each country are calculated and divided by the number of teams from that nation competing in Europe. In the current season, the Premier League had eight teams participating in European competitions.
Furthermore, one spot will be granted to the third-placed team in the domestic league ranked fifth in the UEFA coefficient, currently occupied by France.
The last additional spots will be reserved for the champions’ qualifying path. While previously four teams made it to the group phase through this route, it will be expanded to five teams starting from next season. Importantly, this spot cannot be allocated to a team from the top 10 leagues, as their champions skip the qualifying rounds.
Following the recent European fixtures, Italy and Germany occupy the top two positions, with England trailing in third. However, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa all advanced to the quarter-finals of their respective European club competitions. The only team to be eliminated was Brighton, who faced a daunting task after a 4-0 loss to Roma in the first leg. They only managed a 1-0 win in the second leg, which was not enough to see them through.
England now boasts five teams still competing in Europe, compared to Italy’s four and Germany’s three. While Borussia Dortmund progressed in the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen advanced in the Europa League, Freiburg’s exit may have consequences. Italy’s representatives in the Champions League this week, Napoli and Inter Milan, were both eliminated. However, AC Milan, Atalanta and Roma all secured progress following Thursday’s Europa League games. Fiorentina also advanced through to the quarterfinals of the Conference League.
What This Could Mean for the Premier League
Primarily, the extra UCL spot would be awarded to the team finishing fifth in the league standings. Teams like Aston Villa and Tottenham could find themselves in stronger contention for UCL qualification. Further down the table, clubs such as Brighton, Wolves, Newcastle, and Chelsea would rejuvenate their hopes of clinching a European place, with eighth position possibly being sufficient for a place in the Europa League or Conference League.
Moreover, it would create openings for other European competitions. The two Europa League spots could be granted to the FA Cup winners if they have not already secured Champions League qualification, as well as the sixth-placed team in the Premier League. If the FA Cup winners finish in a UCL or UEL spot domestically, then in this case, the next best team in the league not in a Europa League spot would qualify for UEFA’s second tier club competition.
Following the same FA Cup-based principle, the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League would be the seventh or eighth-placed Premier League team. Should a team like West Ham win the Europa League, they would earn a spot in the Champions League, potentially pushing qualification places further down the Premier League table.
Similar circumstances apply to Aston Villa, who would enter the Europa League if they triumphed in the Europa Conference League. However, their place would not be redistributed if they had already secured Europa League qualification through their league position.
Although unlikely, England could theoretically have 11 teams competing in European tournaments next season, encompassing the usual seven spots, an additional Champions League place, and the winners of all three European competitions, provided they finished outside the European qualification slots.
Overall, the race for fifth – and even eighth place – would gain renewed significance with the introduction of an extra European competition spot.
How This Will Affect the Champions League Format
With the addition of clubs to the UCL, there will also be a format change. Since the 2003/04 season, the group stage has comprised eight groups, each comprising four clubs. In this setup, each team faces the other three both at home and away, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout phase.
In the upcoming season, there will be a shift to a ‘Swiss’ format, accommodating 36 clubs. Under this structure, teams will engage in eight matches against eight different opponents, with an even split of four home and four away games. The top eight clubs will directly progress to the Round of 16 stage. Teams ranked from ninth to 24th will engage in two-leg play-offs, with the winners advancing to fill up the remaining spots.