Brighton, Brentford, and Bournemouth all have outside chances of achieving European success, but Chelsea must win the Conference League and place seventh in the Premier League.
The final Premier League games take place on Sunday, and there is still a chance that 10 of the teams will compete in Europe in 2025-26.
Liverpool and Arsenal have already taken the lead in the Champions League, while Liverpool and Arsenal will join three other English clubs: Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Nottingham Forest.
The winner of that game will also feature in the Champions League next season when Manchester United face Tottenham in Bilbao, Spain, on Wednesday.
The Eagles will join any team that finishes sixth in the Premier League in the 2025-26 Europa League after Crystal Palace defeated Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final.
Newcastle, who won the Carabao Cup and has attained at least a Conference League spot, adds to the problem. However, if they finish sixth, Eddie Howe’s team will instead enter the Champions League, and a top-five finish would place them in the Champions League.
On Wednesday, May 28, Chelsea will face Real Betis in the Conference League final, with the winner advancing to the Europa League. However, if they place among the top five Premier League teams, Enzo Maresca’s Blues can still claim Champions League football.
If Chelsea wins the Conference League and finishes seventh, they could move onto eighth place in the conference league with Brighton, who defeated Liverpool 3-2 on Monday, but Brentford and Bournemouth could still take their place.
If Chelsea were to finish sixth in the Conference League and finish seventh, with Newcastle seventh, which would mean that eighth in the Premier League once more would be sufficient for European competition.
The picture becomes much clearer if Chelsea loses to a Conference League title contender or advances to a Champions League position.

The Champions League is made up of six English teams, but why?
For the past 20 years, the Premier League has been a key component of the race for the top four.
However, this season’s competition expanded to 36 teams all competing in one league phase, which was an increase of four teams per season. The two additional spots were awarded to the two countries whose teams had performed the best in the previous campaign, with the other two going to the other two.
Borussia Dortmund and Bologna in Germany were successful in the years 2024 and 25, but the Premier League was given one of the extra spots while La Liga in Spain received the other.
In 2025-26, which teams will compete in the Champions League?

22 of the 36 teams that will compete in the Champions League’s divisional phase have already been identified.
England: Liverpool, Arsenal, three Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City, or Nottingham Forest. Plus, who will prevail in Tottenham’s and Manchester United’s Europa League final?
Italy: Juventus, Roma, Atalanta, Inter Milan, and Lazio.
Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, and Villarreal are all represented in Spain.
Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Borussia Dortmund are the three German clubs.
Marseille, Monaco, and Paris St. Germain.
PSV Eindhoven and Ajax in the Netherlands.
Sporting in Portugal.
Belgium’s clubs: Club Bruges or Union St. Gilloise.
Galatasaray, Turkey
Slavia Prague, Czech Republic
Olympiakos, Greece.
The 36 teams in the league phase will consist of seven players who will pass the four qualifying rounds.
Celtic, the reigning Scottish champion, will enter the play-offs, while Rangers, the division’s champion, will begin the second qualifying round.
Which Premier League contests will determine the group’s fate in Europe?
If Manchester City defeat Bournemouth at home on Tuesday, they will move up to third place in the Premier League.
If Pep Guardiola’s side were to draw the game, four teams would be tied on 66 points heading into the final day, with Nottingham Forest one point ahead of them.
Forest, the two-time European champion, hasn’t played in Europe since 1995-96, but they’ll be doing it all the same next season, though it’s not yet known in what competition.
A win would place them in at least the Europa League and perhaps the Champions League, but they also need one of Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Manchester City to slip up. If they lose at home to Chelsea, they will be in the Conference League.
With four points from their final two games against Bournemouth and Fulham, City will claim the Champions League title in 2023, which they won in 2023.
If Aston Villa and Newcastle defeat Everton at home, they will qualify.
May 20th, 2019
May 25th, Sunday,
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