The 2025-26 Premier League season is coming to a quick close with Championship Sunday coming up next month, on May 24, which means it’s almost time to find out who will be playing in Europe next season.
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It’s always a bit of a convoluted process once the Cups and coefficient rankings get thrown into the mix. English sides continue to perform well in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, and because of that, the Premier League is well positioned to earn an extra place next season (once again).
It begins with seven European places guaranteed, to be awarded based on the Premier League and the winners of the FA Cup and League Cup. If England earns an additional spot in the Champions League via UEFA’s coefficient ranking, it goes up to eight with assignment to each league rolling down the table one additional spot.
Who in the Premier League will qualify for Champions League this season?
Guaranteed: 1st through 4th places
Looking likely: 5th place
England currently leads the coefficient race, well out in front of the field, which uses results in this season’s continental competitions (all three of them) to award two additional places (to the two best performing nations) in next season’s Champions League. With Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace still going, it is unlikely England would be caught by any other nation, let alone two of them.
How many Europa League spots?
Expected: 6th place
To be determined: FA Cup winners, or 7th place (if the FA Cup winners finish in the top-six).
Operating under the assumption that a fifth spot is awarded to a Premier League club, 6th place would then qualify for the Europa League. The winners of the FA Cup also qualify for the Europa League, but if the FA Cup winners finish in the top-six, that spot would then go to 7th place.
How many Europa Conference League spots?
To be determined: 7th or 8th place
England (not the Premier League) gets one Conference League place, which goes to the winners of the League Cup. That was Manchester City this year, but they currently sit 2nd in the table and are all but certain to be in the Champions League, thus the Conference League place will go to the Premier League’s highest finisher that doesn’t qualify for Champions or Europa League — either 7th if the FA Cup winner comes from outside the top-six, or 8th if the FA Cup winner is a top-six side.