How Premier League teams qualified for Champions League and Europa competitions for 24/25

Champions League trophy next to the Europa League and Europa Conference League trophies.

It kept being forgotten as we always write and talk about the battle for a top-four place but the new format of the Champions League – which changes to a ‘Swiss model’ next season – meant that there was a good chance of five clubs from England being in the Champions League.

There will be 36 clubs competing in next season’s Champions League instead of 32 and two of those extra four places will come from the best-performing nations in 23/24,

In five of the last six seasons, the Premier League would have been allocated an extra place – which would go to the team in fifth. But basically Premier League teams f***ed it this season and the extra places will now go to Italy and Germany.

The top four teams in the Premier League will thus qualify for the Champions League group stage. They will not play in qualifying. Nothing to see here.

So what about the other European competitions?

Europa League
England gets two Europa League places. One belongs to the highest-placed finisher not in the Champions League. Of course, a league finish that appeared set to earn a Champions League place but now won’t can only be occupied by Tottenham and that is very correctly the case.

The other Europa spot goes to the winners of the FA Cup. It was widely expected Champions League-bound Manchester City would lift the trophy again, gifting that spot instead to sixth place in the league. But eighth-placed Manchester United stunned Pep Guardiola’s side at Wembley to book their Europa ticket alongside Spurs, dumping Chelsea into the…

Europa Conference League
As well as all the fizzy pop they can drink, the Carabao Cup winners also receive a place in the play-off stages for the Europa Conference League. Liverpool are in the Champions League and thus do not need the spot they secured after beating Chelsea, who take the place anyway – and the quite considerable FFP concerns – as it reverts to the highest Premier League finisher not otherwise in Europe.

Newcastle needed a Manchester City FA Cup win to secure European football again, the poor scamps. 

MORE NEXT SEASON’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FORMAT
👉 UEFA Champions League reforms: everything you need to know
👉 Champions League reforms signal end of meritocracy

European qualifiers for 2024/25 from Premier League
Champions League: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa.
Europa League: Tottenham and Manchester United.
Conference League: Chelsea.