Champions League new format, 2024-25: England will have four, maybe five, maybe even six teams!

By DIMITRIS MANAKOS

We have been pointing out for about a month now that the two countries that will have the biggest coefficient in UEFA, will secure one more place in the next Champions League.

Practically speaking, if England maintains its position in the top two, which has been the case for the last three seasons, then the 5th in the Premier League ranking will compete in the top club competition next season.

In this case, UEFA is not interested in the individual rate of each club, but in the overall points of the country, with the good news for english football arising from the fact that in six of the last seven seasons, England have been in the first two places.

See in detail the position of England in the UEFA coefficients, from 2016 onwards:

2016-17: Spain and England

2017-18: England and Spain

2018-19: England and Spain

2019-20: Spain and Germany

2020-21: England and Spain

2021-22: England and Holland

2022-23: England and Italy

As can be easily understood, English teams have dominated Europe in recent years and in particular, in the three most recent seasons, culminating in the last one where Manchester City won the Champions League for the first time in their history. West Ham won the Europa Conference League, but Arsenal and Manchester United did not qualify in the Europa League, having been eliminated by Sporting Lisbon and Sevilla respectively.

But there is one more fact that we must take seriously into account. The Premier League has eight representatives in european competition this year, with West Ham the latest, having won their second ever Europa Conference League. So even if the team didn't take a place in Europe through the championship, it did because of the conquest.

This means that every win by an english team this year will give the country slightly fewer points, since points will be divided by eight rather than seven, due to the number of teams.

When was the last time England had eight teams in Europe? In the 2015-16 season, when finished in 3rd place in the standings, with the alarming detail that neither Southampton nor West Ham managed to qualify for the group stage. This year, of course, such thing does not exist, as all eight english teams are already in the competition!

One fact that actually favors England is that Osasuna failed to secure its participation in the Europa Conference League group stage. And if we consider tradition, only twice in the last eight seasons has a country managed to finish in the top two places in UEFA without having all their representatives in the groups… 

And we are referring to England, when in 2018-19, the Burnley were also eliminated by Olympiakos three years earlier, when something similar happened to West Ham.

Therefore, if we summarize all the information that emerges, the strength of the English teams, the... tradition and the numbers, show that it will be very difficult for England not to have five teams next season, in the Champions League. Of course, it is a necessary condition for Brighton, West Ham and Aston Villa to gain wins, while Newcastle will also play a pivotal role, in what is arguably the most difficult group of the top club competition!

However, let's not rule out all six teams in the Champions League, even if it sounds crazy.

Because this is what will happen if, for example, the Seagulls confirm the title of second favorite and win the Europa League, just like West Ham, without being in the top four or five of the Premier League, with Liverpool, for example, securing the ticket for the… stars, through league standings!