Breaking Down the Numbers: How Many European Slots Are Open This Season?

Premier League sides in European competition this campaign have really enjoyed the continental competitions this time round. As a result, the Premier League will have nine spots in European competitions next season. English clubs have made it far and performed well enough in all three competitions that the Premier League had been awarded an additional fifth spot from UEFA’s association club coefficient rankings.

In this piece, we will be explaining how many places Premier League clubs might have this season, and I will try to describe this in the best way possible.

Champions League Spots

As we have just found out, the Premier League has been awarded an extra Champions League qualification place due to European Performance Spot (EPS) by the clubs performing well in the European competitions. However, due to Tottenham and Manchester United’s crazy runs in the Europa League, there will be six Premier League clubs competing in the Champions League next season. Both of these sides have had awful respective campaigns and will look at the upcoming final in Bilbao as a way of salvaging their season.

With an all-English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 UEL final, the Premier League will send 𝐒𝐈𝐗 clubs to the UCL next season 😳👏 pic.twitter.com/h8Jyt1TE6Z

— 433 (@433) May 9, 2025

Their poor domestic seasons have been saved by impressive European runs, with Manchester United seeing off Lyon in a magical evening at Old Trafford before beating Bilbao 7-1 over two legs. Meanwhile, Spurs defeated Frankfurt away before dispatching a surprise package in Bodo/Glimt. With Man United and Tottenham sitting in 15th and 16th places respectively, either team will be the ‘lowest-ranked winner’ of the Europa League since its rebrand in 2010.

What Happens If Crystal Palace Wins The FA Cup?

Another scenario in determining who gets European spots in England will also depend on the FA Cup. Crystal Palace will meet Manchester City on the 17th of May in the FA Cup final with the winner guaranteeing themselves a spot in the Europa League next season. With Man City looking like themselves again, should they win the competition, their Europa League spot would get passed down the table. Meanwhile, if Palace win the trophy, they will achieve European qualification themselves. So of course, this will not change how many clubs qualify for Europe as it will still be an additional slot either way.

🚨 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Race is wide open in England!

🏆 If Man City win the FA Cup:

📈 6th place - Europa League
📈 7th place - Europa League
⭕️ 8th place - Conference League

🏆 If Crystal Palace win the FA Cup:

📈 6th place - Europa League
⭕️ 7th place - Conference League pic.twitter.com/k4vYAkQzVM

— Football Rankings (@FootRankings) May 5, 2025

Manchester United qualified for Europe last season because they beat City in the FA Cup final, so Crystal Palace will hope to repeat this feat, meanwhile City will want to go one step further this time and finish the season by winning a trophy. If Palace fail to win this trophy and City do instead, this will mean that City’s Europa League spot will get passed down to eighth in the league, even if City do not get top five.

If this happens, it will mean that one of Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, or Fulham could still finish eighth and therefore qualify for the Conference League- so all of these teams will be praying on Crystal Palace’s downfall in a week's time.

Who Will Finish In The Top Five?

Only Liverpool have secured a top five finish with three games to go, with six sides vying for the remaining four spots. Arsenal (67), Man City (64), Newcastle (63), Chelsea (63), Nottingham Forest (61) and Aston Villa (60) are the sides battling for Champions League football and it is a complete mystery to any and all football fans as you cannot quite predict what might happen in the final few weeks. Arsenal will only require one win to secure Champions League qualification and Nottingham Forest are not out of the race just yet, with the easiest run-in, according to FPL.

N. Forest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 drew at C. Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and is now 2 pts behind 5th place.

To finish Top 5 (as of 5 May):

✅ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool
99.8% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal
97% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Man City
74% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle
66% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chelsea
--
47% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 N. Forest
16% 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aston Villa

(values in the table are rounded to nearest integer)

🚨… pic.twitter.com/rBYvDqaa4U

— Football Meets Data (@fmeetsdata) May 5, 2025

Chelsea, however, without a doubt have the toughest run-in, facing away trips to two sides trying to return to Champions League football in Newcastle and Forest. Adding what will sure be a fiery affair at home to Man United too and Chelsea are really up against it. Victory against Champions Liverpool did the Blues a world of good and they will also be happy after securing a trip to Wroclaw to face Real Betis in the Conference League final.

Manchester City’s run-in is not the easiest but certainly not the worst, and they have looked like they have been kicked back into top gear by Pep, so Champions League qualification looks inevitable now for the Citizens. Newcastle also suffer a tough run-in, a home match to Chelsea before a trip to Arsenal so the Magpies will need to be in top form to secure a Champions League place from here. Meanwhile, Aston Villa’s run-in looks rather tricky- a trip to Conference League chasing Bournemouth before playing home and away to both Europa League finalists.

So, in short, there will be nine Premier League sides competing in Europe next season. The top five will qualify for the Champions League plus the winner between Spurs and Man United in the Europa League final. This means 6th and 7th place will qualify for the Europa League, with 8th place qualifying for the Conference League. However, if Crystal Palace wins the FA Cup, them and 6th will gain a spot in the Europa League, with 7th qualifying for the Conference League. Liverpool are the only side confirmed to a specific competition for next season too, with second to 11th place still fighting it out to see which positions they are in. On top of that, Palace are obviously fighting for a spot in the Europa League, with Spurs and United battling it out for a Champions League spot.