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[Albion] Paths to Europe - Is this correct?



Mustafa II

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2022
1,266
Hove
So there is an unlikely scenario where Man Utd & Chelsea win the Europa League and Champions League respectively, while both finishing outside the top 4, resulting in only the top 3 qualifying for the Champions League... but I'll ignore that for now.

Otherwise it'll be:

- Top four qualify for Champions League

- 5th place qualifies for Europa League

- FA Cup winner OR 6th place team, depending if winner has already qualified for Europe, qualifies for Europa League

- As Man Utd have won the League Cup and are likely to qualify for Europe, then 6th or 7th place teams (depending on FA Cup winner) will qualify for the Europa Conference.


So in summary,

- WInning the FA Cup would qualify us for the Europa League regardless of league position.

- Finishing 5th guarantees a Europa League spot in all likely scenarios.

- Finishing 6th would qualify us for Europa League, unless Sheffield United win the FA Cup, in which case it would qualify us for Europa Conference (unless Man Utd fall outout of top 5 as well)

- Finishing 7th would qualify us for Europa Conference, unless Man Utd fail to win FA Cup AND drop out of top 6, or Sheffield Utd win the FA Cup.


Think I've got my head round it anyway. Is this all correct??
 




Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,914
Brighton
Someone online was certain that just getting to the FA Cup Final would be enough to guarantee us Europe - if Man City are our opponents.

That’s not right, is it?
 




One Teddy Maybank

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 4, 2006
21,734
Worthing
It shouldn't matter as we'd be awarded an extra place in the Europa League (not 100% sure that is the rule but it's same as if a side from outside of the top 4 won the Champions League we'd be allowed a 5th team in the competition*)

*If teams won the CL and the Europa League but didn't qualify for Europe through League positions both would go into the Champions League and the 4th place team would drop into the Europa League, again this would create an extra place in the Europa League for that season.
Thought I’d read somewhere, this would trump one of the other places, so cheering for Fiorentina
 




Lawros Lip

Active member
Sep 16, 2020
110
Whilst I appreciate all of the positive talk of aiming for the Champions League, with the teams up there and our run in, realistically it’s not going to happen.

But 6th is definitely very realistic and absolutely should be the position we should aim to finish in as a minimum now which would guarantee Europe.
But with just an outside chance, that if results go really favourably, we could still just nick 4th place! Keep the faith. UTA.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,794
Faversham
No shit (although I appreciate your need to post it, because some have got carried away)



Sorry to be boring here, but we don't actually aim to finish in a position, we aim to win every game.

I'd be very happy with finishing 7th, because it's not likely Sheffield will win the cup.
I salute your attention to detail. Only a fool would argue with a solid fact.

Luckily the fools are elsewhere, trying to think up something clever to say in support of Sue Ellen. :LOL:
 






Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,779
Someone online was certain that just getting to the FA Cup Final would be enough to guarantee us Europe - if Man City are our opponents.

That’s not right, is it?
No, it was once but it isn't now.
 








Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
10,993
Crawley










ConfusedGloryHunter

He/him/his/that muppet
Jul 6, 2011
2,054
There is a chance winners of Europa and champions league are both English teams who are not top 4 in the league. Then 4th spot only gets Europa. We should aim for 3rd, just to be safe.
 






Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo

Waxing chumps like candles since ‘75
Oct 4, 2003
11,187
Don’t THINK that’s right - @Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo will confirm…
I'm not 100% certain but I think if West Ham won the Conference League and got a place in next seasons Europa League then it would be an additional place, and no club would miss out, 7th would still get a Conference League place. Just like if a team outside the top 4 win the Champions League or the Europa League then we'd get an extra place in the Champions League.

The confusion comes from the creation of the Conference League and the maximum number of clubs one country is allowed across all the European competitions. It used to be 8 (allowing 1 extra over our normal allocation of 7) but I have seen it mentioned since the Conference League exists we could have up to 9 clubs allowed into Europe. I've not seen anything definitive from UEFA though.

The nightmare scenario for us, if only 8 clubs are allowed, would be Chelsea winning the Champions League and West Ham winning the Conference League and neither qualifying for Europa via their league positions. In that hopefully highly unlikely scenario the Premier League would lose their Conference League spot for the upcoming season.
 
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Sheebo

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2003
29,309
I'm not 100% certain but I think if West Ham won the Conference League and got a place in next seasons Europa League then it would be an additional place, and no club would miss out, 7th would still get a Conference League place. Just like if a team outside the top 4 win the Champions League or the Europa League then we'd get an extra place in the Champions League.

The confusion comes from the creation of the Conference League and the maximum number of clubs one country is allowed across all the European competitions. It used to be 8 (allowing 1 extra over our normal allocation of 7) but I have seen it mentioned since the Conference League exists we could have up to 9 clubs allowed into Europe. I've not seen anything definitive from UEFA though.

The nightmare scenario for us, if only 8 clubs are allowed, would be Chelsea winning the Champions League and West Ham winning the Conference League and neither qualifying for Europa via their league positions. In that hopefully highly unlikely scenario the Premier League would lose their Conference League spot for the upcoming season.
That’s how I read it. If it’s 8 teams then top 7 & WHam would be fine as long as Sheff Utd don’t win the cup.
 


Cheshire Cat

The most curious thing..
I'd be very happy with finishing 7th, because it's not likely Sheffield will win the cup.
I'm quite happy not getting relegated.

Everything else is a bonus.
 




Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,660
GOSBTS
I'm not 100% certain but I think if West Ham won the Conference League and got a place in next seasons Europa League then it would be an additional place, and no club would miss out, 7th would still get a Conference League place. Just like if a team outside the top 4 win the Champions League or the Europa League then we'd get an extra place in the Champions League.

The confusion comes from the creation of the Conference League and the maximum number of clubs one country is allowed across all the European competitions. It used to be 8 (allowing 1 extra over our normal allocation of 7) but I have seen it mentioned since the Conference League exists we could have up to 9 clubs allowed into Europe. I've not seen anything definitive from UEFA though.

The nightmare scenario for us, if only 8 clubs are allowed, would be Chelsea winning the Champions League and West Ham winning the Conference League and neither qualifying for Europa via their league positions. In that hopefully highly unlikely scenario the Premier League would lose their Conference League spot for the upcoming season.
I think you can now only have 7 teams in Europe?
 


Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo

Waxing chumps like candles since ‘75
Oct 4, 2003
11,187
I think you can now only have 7 teams in Europe?
We can certainly have 8 if the following happens (from link below).

In the event that a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League and another win the UEFA Europa League and neither of these clubs finish in the top four of the Premier League, the club lying fourth in the table will drop into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

If a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League and another win the UEFA Europa League and neither have qualified for UEFA competitions through their league positions or by winning the FA Cup or EFL Cup, they will qualify for the UEFA Champions League and the club finishing fourth in the table will drop into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

This UEFA Europa League group stage place will be in addition to the one for the club finishing fifth and to the places in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League for the FA Cup and EFL Cup winners (or for the highest-ranked clubs not qualified for UEFA competitions in the Premier League if the FA Cup and EFL Cup winners have already qualified for UEFA competitions through their league position).



The only thing that isn't fully explained is what happens if a team wins the Conference League and hasn't qualified through League position (as West Ham could do this season) would the same rule apply and an extra place in the Europa League be created, and obviously there is a question on what happens if Chelsea and West Ham win the Champions League and Conference League respectively and don't qualify through league position, could we have 9 clubs or would the lowest ranked competition place be taken away for a season?

 
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