The Premier League season is entering the final stretch and the race for a place in Europe next season is starting to hot up.
We take a look at who is in contention to qualify for the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League, and what impact an English team winning a European trophy could have.
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How many teams qualify for Europe?
The maximum that can qualify from domestic performance in the Premier League — so either league position or by winning one of the two cup competitions — is seven.
However, the places reserved for European titleholders are separate if a team does not qualify domestically. Therefore, it is technically possible, though unlikely, for the Premier League to have 10 teams in Europe — the seven domestic qualifiers plus the winners of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League if they are outside the European places.
This season, a maximum of nine Premier League teams could qualify for Europe.
Manchester United are still in with a chance of playing in the Champions League. Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Which Premier League places will qualify this season?
At the start of the season the top four in the Premier League qualifies for the Champions League, while 5th place and the FA Cup winners enter the Europa League. The winners of the Carabao Cup qualify for the Europa Conference League.
However, Liverpool won the Carabao Cup and can finish no lower than fifth in the league, so the Europa Conference League place transfers to the Premier League.
Similarly, the FA Cup final will be between Chelsea and Liverpool. There’s virtually no mathematical chance that Chelsea would finish outside the top six if they were to be the winners, so we can be all but certain that the Europa League place will also transfer to the Premier League.
So, purely on domestic performance we know the following:
Champions League: 1, 2, 3, 4
Europa League: 5, 6
Europa…
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