Here’s some exciting news for fans of Premier League clubs chasing Champions League football: a fifth-place finish almost guarantees UEFA Champions League qualification for next season. 

UEFA has now changed the rules so that two leagues will be rewarded with an extra Champions League qualification spot. 

Here’s how it works: 

• Whichever two leagues in Europe have the best average coefficient scores at the end of the season get an all-important extra qualification spot 
• These scores are added up across the Champions League, Europa League, and UEFA Conference League 

Essentially, the two best-performing leagues across UEFA’s tournaments this season will be rewarded with an additional spot. And as of right now, England is leading the coefficient rankings table following excellent European campaigns from Liverpool and Arsenal, who have been performing extremely well in the Champions League this season. 

Does Top 5 Get Champions League Season? 

Although it’s not 100% confirmed yet, the Premier League is almost certain to get a fifth-place Champions League qualification spot this season. What this would mean is that whichever team finishes fifth — whether it’s Chelsea, Manchester City, or Newcastle — will qualify for the 2025-25 UCL campaign. This will give teams in and around the 5th to 9th-place positions huge motivation to win as many games as possible between now and the end of the season, which should make for some great entertainment.  

If you take a look at the minimum deposit betting sites, you can see the current UEFA coefficient rankings and betting odds. Here’s what they currently look like: 

England • 22.178 • 6/7

Spain • 19.892 • 6/7

Italy • 18.937 • 4/8

Germany • 16.671 • 4/8

Portugal • 16.250 • 2/5

With the tournament’s quarter-finals set to start in just under a month, England are nailed-on to be the first nation to secure an extra Champions League qualification spot. The second team is most likely to be Italy, especially with Barcelona and Real Madrid both performing exceptionally well. Of course, anything can happen between now and the final, though, but the most likely outcome is that England (Premier League) and Spain (LaLiga) will be boasting an extra team in next year’s UCL. 

The Premier League Could Potentially Have Seven Teams in the 2025-26 Champions League 

What’s interesting about the new Champions League format is that it looks like it may lead to seven Premier League clubs qualifying for next season’s competition. These would be the top five teams from the league itself along with the Champions League and Europa League winners if they were to finish outside of the top five. It’s unlikely but there’s a very small chance it could happen. For example, if Manchester City finished 6th but won the Champions League and Manchester United finished 12th but won the Europa League, this would trigger an outcome where the Premier League has seven competing teams in the UCL, something that’s never been seen before. 

Why Did UEFA Introduce the New Champions League Format? 

When the new UEFA Champions League format came into play at the start of this season, it caused major controversy. Initially, the new format — which has seen the traditional group stage get replaced by a huge single 36-team league — sent fans into a meltdown on social media. At the same time, pundits and ex-players in the media weren’t happy, either. However, the tide has since shifted, with the vast majority of fans now completely onboard with the exciting changes that they’ve witnessed so far this season. 

The games are now more exciting. Lower-down teams have a greater shot at progressing to the knockout stages. And there have been lots of surprising results, too, such as Aston Villa’s huge 2-1 win over Bayern Munich or Arsenal’s recent 7-0 thrashing of PSV. Sure, it’s a little more chaotic and some fans are still taking a little while to get used to it, but nobody will deny that the new Champions League format has definitely made things interesting again. 

As to why the new format was introduced, it’s simple: 

You get to see big clashes early on 

UEFA can generate more revenue from more matches

The extra spots (36 teams instead of 32) means more opportunities for clubs from lower leagues

Not to mention, there was also the underlying threat of a breakaway Super League, which you’ll no doubt remember from a few years ago. In response to this threat, UEFA made the call to freshen up the format to keep the elite teams happy and dissuade them from breaking away to form their own leagues. 

Summary 

If you’re a fan of Chelsea, Newcastle, Bournemouth, or any of the other teams in-and-around the top half of the table, you might want to get behind Liverpool and Arsenal for the remainder of the UCL campaign. If England finish inside the top two of the UEFA coefficient rankings, the Premier will receive a golden ticket to have fifth-place qualification for next year’s competition. What this means is that whichever team finishes fifth will be playing in Europe next year — and so you can expect the ongoing Premier League season to get extremely competitive as we head towards the latter stages of the 2024-25 season.