While there will now be six teams at the end of this season toasting their Champions League qualification, there will likely be far more at the Premier League offices silently tearing their hair out.
That’s because one of admittedly few drawbacks for the growing number of qualification spots is the thorny issue of fixture scheduling.
This season, English teams’ collective performances across the three European competitions have earned the top-flight an extra Champions League place, making it five teams taking part in next year’s competition.
There’s not much new there, given the usual four have been on occasion supplemented by an English Europa League winner, victory in that competition earning teams a spot in the game’s top table.
But now, with Manchester United and Tottenham confirming their spot in the Europa League final, one of them will join Liverpool and the rest of the teams that end up in the top five come the end of the campaign.
In an ordinary season, Champions League teams will play on a Tuesday or Wednesday, usually two on each day, with any featuring on the latter likely scheduled for a Sunday Premier League campaign, though not always.
The Premier League will see nine teams compete in European competitions next campaign
Six of those will feature in the Champions League with at least two more in the Europa League
With more teams competing midweek there are likely to be far more games played on Sundays
But now with six teams, it looks like there will be even more games scheduled on a Sunday, with a potential split of three Champions League games on a Tuesday, and another three on a Wednesday.
Add in the small factor of two English teams in the Europa League and one in the Conference League on a Thursday, and those Sunday matchdays are beginning to look a whole lot busier.
If we take the table as it stands – though it will likely change before the end of May – it would be Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Newcastle and Chelsea in the Champions League – plus one of Man United and Spurs – with Nottingham Forest in the Europa League from sixth place.
Aston Villa (seventh) would then take the Conference League spot that Newcastle secured by winning the Carabao Cup.
Crystal Palace could still also get Europa League football from 12th if they win the FA Cup, but if they do not, that spot will go to Villa, with Man City already in the Champions League, and the Conference League spot then passes to Bournemouth in eighth. All very straight-forward.
That makes a total of nine European spots for the Premier League – basically half the division – and an almighty headache for the unlucky souls tasked with turning the confusion into some semblance of a fixture list.
It may end up as six Champions League (UCL), two Europa League (EL) and one Conference League (CL), or six CL, three EL, but the bottom line is there will be definitely nine teams in continental action for 2025-26.
Hypothetically, it could be 10 if Chelsea finish outside the European spots, and win the Conference League, AND have Crystal Palace beat City to the FA Cup.
In that wonderfully confusing scenario it would be first-fifth in the UCL, plus United or Spurs, then sixth place, Chelsea as CL winners and an FA Cup-winning Palace in the EL and eighth place qualifying for the CL with Newcastle’s Carabao Cup-winning spot.
