Could six English teams make the Champions League? European qualification explained
Breaking down the Premier League’s European qualifying places - and explaining how up to 10 English teams could play continental football next season.
When the 2025/26 Premier League season comes to a conclusion on the penultimate weekend of May, several English sides will find out which European competitions they will play in next season – but the picture is far from straightforward, and there is even a realistic chance that six teams qualify for the Champions League in 2026/27 once again.
That’s because UEFA’s European Performance Spots (EPS), which were instituted a couple of seasons ago, have changed the way that qualifying for the three European competitions works. So how will the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League places be decided this season, and who could make it into Europe’s biggest competition this time around?
How six Premier League teams could qualify for the 2026/27 Champions League
It has already been confirmed that the top five teams in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League as a result of the EPS, as was the case last season – England will get an extra qualification place as the nation whose teams have enjoyed the best overall performance in Europe this season. Either Spain or Germany will get an extra place, too, depending on how games play out towards the end of the season.
That means that the top five, rather than the usual top four, will earn a place in the Champions League league phase next season come what may. But the Premier League could still get an extra spot, as it did in 2024/25, if an English side wins the Europa League.
With Aston Villa set to face Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals, an English side is guaranteed a place in the final – but the impact on qualification for the Champions League could be different depending on which team makes it.
If Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish in the top four – they are fifth at the time of writing – then the EPS place will pass down to sixth position in the Premier League. In that specific instance, England would lose its Europa League place due to UEFA’s rather bizarre rules about how the EPS place overrule other means of qualification.
Confusingly, however, were Aston Villa to win and finish fifth, then sixth place would not earn a Champions League place – because Villa would be considered to have qualified via the EPS place, not as Europa League winners. Instead, the spot reserved for the Europa League champion will go to the team with the best UEFA co-efficient from another qualifying country. In this scenario, sixth place would make it into the Europa League.
If Villa were to win the Europa League and finish outside the top five, then they would qualify for the Champions League alongside the top five from the Premier League. The same would be true if Nottingham Forest were to be crowned Europa League champions, mirroring Tottenham Hotspur’s path to qualification last season.
It’s worth noting that nothing will change if Arsenal were to win the Champions League this season. They are already mathematically guaranteed a top five finish, and the place in the tournament usually assigned to the reigning champions would again pass down to the team from a qualifying country with the best co-efficient, and would not be given to an English side.
So six Premier League teams will only qualify if either Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest win the Europa League and finish outside of top four. Arsenal and Manchester City are both guaranteed Champions League football next season as it stands. Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa need six more points each to guarantee their places at the time of publication, regardless of the outcome of the Europa League.
Who will qualify for the Europa League and Conference League?
The Premier League only receives one place for each of the Europa and Conference Leagues by right, with the team that finishes sixth in the top flight taking the Europa League spot, while the seventh-ranked side will qualify for the Conference League.
There’s an additional Europa League qualifying spot for the winners of the FA Cup, a place which will pass down if the winners of that competition finish inside the top five. Manchester City and Chelsea will play at Wembley on 16 May to decide who takes that particular title.
If Manchester City win, or if Chelsea win and they finish inside the top seven, then sixth and seventh place will go to the Europa League, with eighth place then qualifying for the Conference League instead of seventh.
Crystal Palace could also qualify for the Europa League as Conference League champions, following their demotion to the competition last summer – they face Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi-finals. As with Chelsea, should they qualify through that competition and finish inside the European qualifying places, then the Conference League qualifying position will pass down another spot.
That means that ninth place could qualify for the Conference League: If Chelsea won the FA Cup, Crystal Palace won the Conference League and they both finished in positions that would otherwise qualify for Europe, then the Conference League qualification position would pass down twice.
That’s the scenario which makes it possible for as many as 10 Premier League teams to make it into Europe: The top five qualifying for the Champions League, Nottingham Forest qualifying by winning the Europa League, Chelsea and Crystal Palace qualifying for the Europa League through cup competitions while finishing between sixth and eighth, one Europa League qualifier through league position and then finally the ninth-placed league finisher making it into the Conference League.
Sufficed to say, it’s all rather confusing. The EPS system creates a lot of counter-intuitive exceptions to the usual rules, particularly because of the fact that the Europa League spot from a team’s league finish can disappear depending on Aston Villa’s results if they win the Europa League themselves this year. But either way, five or six English teams will be in the Champions League, up to three could make the Europa League depending on who wins the FA Cup and Conference League, and one team will make it into the Conference League come what may.