Newcastle United can still qualify for the Champions League after official UEFA announcement
Newcastle United are eyeing a top seven Premier League finish and that could secure Champions League qualification.
Newcastle United can still qualify for next season’s Champions League, albeit the chances are slim.
Due to the efforts of Newcastle and other English teams in Europe this campaign, the Premier League has been awarded an extra Champions League qualification place - called the European Performance Spot (EPS) - for a second successive year.
UEFA rules introduced in 2024 see the two nations with the highest coefficients handed an extra qualification spot. Arsenal’s 1-0 win away to Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie confirmed England’s extra place, while Spain are firm favourites to take the second spot.
As well as the top four clubs in the Premier League, the team that finishes fifth will gain entry in the Champions League through the EPS, just like Newcastle did last season.
The chances of Eddie Howe’s side repeating last season’s fifth-place finish are very much a long shot, with seven points the gap from Liverpool with the same number of matches left to play.
There is, however, an extremely unlikely scenario where finishing inside the top seven of the Premier League would secure Champions League qualification.
Newcastle currently sit 12th in the table, six points behind sixth-place Chelsea and four points below seventh-place Brentford.
How Newcastle United can finish 7th and qualify for the Champions League
Aston Villa currently sit fourth in the Premier League table while Liverpool are five points behind them in fifth and Chelsea are a further point behind in sixth.
Villa are favourites to win the Europa League this season, which also grants a Champions League qualification spot. Should Villa win the Europa League but drop to fifth, sixth place would be granted Champions League qualification through the European Performance Spot (EPS).
The same logic applies to Liverpool. If either win a European trophy and finish fifth, then sixth would qualify for the Champions League via the EPS place.
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Villa face Italian side Bologna in the quarter-finals of the Europa League while Liverpool face an uphill task to get past Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of the Champions League after losing the first leg 2-0 at the Parc des Princes.
Now, if Liverpool and Villa were to finish fifth or sixth and win the Champions League and Europa League respectively, then seventh place would be granted Champions League qualification through the ESP.
What would happen now if Newcastle United finished 7th
As it stands, the Premier League has seven European qualification places with the top five going into the Champions League, while whoever finishes sixth or seventh would qualify for the Europa League and Conference League, respectively.
However, the winner of the FA Cup is also one to watch, as Manchester City take on Southampton and Chelsea face Leeds United in the semi-finals.
If Man City win it, eighth position would become a Europa Conference League spot and seventh would be upgraded to a Europa League spot. If Chelsea lift the trophy, they would need to finish inside the top seven for the Conference League place to transfer to eighth.
However, if Southampton or Leeds wins the competition, they would play in the Europa League and there would be no eighth-place entry into Europe.