Chasing Europe: Champions League qualification and every route for English clubs

Sixth, seventh and eighth carry no fixed reward. So "fifth is a Champions League place" is true in some seasons and not others, and the same goes for "eighth is a European place".

Places earned in 2026/27 feed the 2027/28 competitions. UEFA confirms each season's access list ahead of time, and this season's was approved on 20 May 2026.

For scale, over the ten seasons from 2016/17 to 2025/26, fourth place has taken between 65 and 76 points, and fifth between 60 and 75. Last season was the low point for both: Aston Villa were fourth on 65 and Liverpool fifth on 60, and because fifth moved up, 60 points was enough for a Champions League place.

The FA Cup and Carabao Cup places: only the winner qualifies

Both cup places go to the winner. A beaten finalist gets nothing automatic, however good their run.

The two places are not worth the same. FA Cup winners go straight into the Europa League league phase. Carabao Cup winners start in the Conference League play-off round, a two-legged August tie. Win it and they are in the league phase. Lose it and their European season is over before September.

The cascade, worked: when a cup winner is already qualified

When a cup winner has already qualified through the league:

• They keep their league place.

• The cup's European place passes to the highest-placed club in the table not already qualified.

The 2025/26 allocation, in order:

1. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa took the four Champions League places.

2. England earned a European Performance Spot, so fifth-placed Liverpool joined them.

3. With fifth moved up, sixth-placed Bournemouth took the league's Europa League place.

4. Manchester City won both domestic cups but had already qualified, so both cup places passed down: the FA Cup's Europa League place to Sunderland in seventh, the Carabao Cup's Conference League place to Brighton in eighth.

5. Villa won the Europa League from fourth, so that trophy place left England and went to Sporting CP.

6. Crystal Palace won the Conference League and went into the Europa League as an additional club.

Brentford, level on points with Brighton and behind on goal difference, missed out.

In 2023/24 the two cups pulled in opposite directions. Manchester United won the FA Cup from eighth and took a Europa League place. Liverpool won the Carabao Cup from third, so that Conference League place passed to Chelsea in sixth. Newcastle United, seventh, missed out.

The rarer version involves a European trophy. An English club that wins the Europa League after missing out on Europe through the league enters the Champions League on top of England's league places. Tottenham Hotspur won the 2025 Europa League and took a Champions League place, even though they finished 17th in the Premier League.

When a Europa League winner has already qualified for the Champions League through the league, their trophy place does not pass down the Premier League table. UEFA gives it to a club in Champions League qualifying, which is how Sporting CP reached this season's league phase.

A European winner can also take a place away from the clubs below them. If a side who finished in a Europa League place win the Europa League, they move up to the Champions League, and their old Europa League place leaves England rather than passing down the table.

Passing cup places down the table never changes how many English clubs go into Europe. Two things can add a club: a European trophy won by a club that missed out through the league, as Spurs did in 2025 and Palace did in 2026, and the extra Champions League place. A European winner that had already qualified, as Villa had, adds nothing.

The extra Champions League place, and how a club earns one without playing for it

A club can reach the Champions League on results it played no part in, because every English result in Europe feeds a ranking of national associations. Each season, the two associations with the best season coefficient earn an extra Champions League place for the next campaign, and it goes to the highest-placed club in the domestic league not already in the Champions League. England and Spain earned the places from 2025/26 results, and Liverpool and Real Betis took them.

A fifth-placed side can reach the Champions League because another English club won an away leg in March, or because a rival went deep in the Conference League. That is why supporters chasing fifth spend spring evenings following other people's European ties. UEFA publishes the season association coefficients as the campaign goes on.

What to watch in 2026/27

If the extra place carries into 2027/28, whether fifth is a Champions League place again depends on how England's nine clubs do in Europe this season. The top four race itself often turns on the run-in's head-to-head fixtures, where a win for one contender is also a lost chance for a rival. The Ladbrokes news hub's Premier League coverage follows the race week by week.

Both domestic cups are still to be decided, and they matter to the table as well as the trophy cabinet. If the winners have already qualified through the league, their places pass to the highest-placed clubs not already qualified, as they did last season. The Carabao Cup final is on Sunday 21 March 2027, and Premier League clubs have not entered the FA Cup yet.

Every English result in Europe counts towards England's season coefficient, from the August qualifiers onwards. The race usually sharpens in the February knockout rounds, when the leading associations start to separate.

All last-day Premier League fixtures kick off together, so a club's European place can move with a goal in a different stadium.

The takeaway: why nine English clubs are in Europe this season

Nine English clubs are in Europe this season: the usual seven places, plus England's extra Champions League place and Palace's Conference League title. Manchester City's two cup wins changed who took the places, not how many there were.

Follow the season on the Ladbrokes news hub.

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