How nine PL sides could qualify for Europe

The race for Europe is on but which teams make it – and how many – is still to be decided.

With the Premier League campaign reaching its climax, we look at:

• How up to nine Premier League sides could be playing European football next season
• What a clean sweep of European trophies would mean for English clubs
• How Man Utd could miss out on Europe for just the second time since 1990
• The possibility of English clubs missing from the Europa Conference League all together

How many English teams qualify for European football?

There are seven European spots open to English sides – although that number could rise to nine and the amount of teams in each individual competition can shift.

As a basis:

• The top four in the Premier League qualify for the Champions League group stage
• Fifth place and the FA Cup winners qualify for the Europa League group stage
• The Carabao Cup winners qualify for the Europa Conference League playoff

However, because this season the FA Cup winner will be either Liverpool or Chelsea, and both those teams look set to finish in the top four, their Europa League qualifying spot for winning the FA Cup will be passed down to the next highest Premier League finisher who doesn’t qualify for Europe.

Similarly, because Liverpool won the Carabao Cup and are set to finish in the top four, their Europa Conference League qualifying spot from that competition will go to the next highest Premier League finisher without European football.

So that means sides which finish sixth and seventh in the Premier League table are in contention for a place in either the Europa League or Europa Conference League next season.

What if a Premier League team wins a European cup?

If Manchester City or Liverpool win the Champions League they will automatically qualify for the competition’s group stages next season. That is irrespective of where they finish in the Premier League table.

If they qualify for the competition through two methods – ie: they win it and finish in the top four – there is no extra Champions League spot created for another team to fill and the number of Premier League clubs in next season’s Champions League will remain at four.

The Premier League could have a maximum of five teams in the Champions League next season, though, if West Ham won the Europa League and finished outside the top four. Winning that competition qualifies them for the Champions League group stages.

If Leicester win the Europa Conference League they will automatically qualify for next season’s Europa League – another additional European spot.

That means, if West Ham and Leicester win their competitions and finish outside the Premier League’s top seven there will be nine English sides in European competition next season.

The nine sides would be: the top four and West Ham in the Champions League, fifth and sixth place, plus Leicester, in the Europa League, and seventh place in the Europa Conference League.

But if Leicester were to win the Europa Conference League and finish seventh – the place set to be rewarded with a Europa Conference League spot – there would be no English side in the Europa Conference League next season, as Leicester would be bumped up to the Europa League. That happened in Spain last season with Sevilla and no La Liga side involved in the Europa Conference League.

Eighth and out?

Regardless of any permutation, no side finishing eighth in the Premier League will qualify for Europe, unless they’ve won a domestic or European cup.

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