Question on European Places in EPL

[Cardle is Magic]

What would happen if:

- West Ham win the Europa League

- Leicester win the Europa Conference

- Palace win the FA Cup

…and none of them finish in a European place?

I remember reading that countries can’t have more than seven sides in Europe so how would they work this out? Top 4 and West Ham in CL & Palace and Leicester in EL?

[Donathan]

I know they are allowed a maximum of five places in the UCL. So 4th place in the league misses the UCL only if English clubs win both the UCL and the UEL but neither finishes in the top 4.

 

My best guess is that in this case, 5th place would no longer get you a European spot.

 

UCL: Top 4 + West Ham

UEL: Leicester + Palace

Conference: None 

[The Master]

I think the limit is 9 teams, which allows for all domestic slots to be filled, plus all the title winners if needs be.

If we assume that 1) England provides the winners of all three competitions but none subsequently qualify for Europe via domestic means; and 2) the winners of both Cups don't qualify for Europe by any other means.

This would result in :

CL - EPL top 3 + CL winners + EL winners (5)
EL - EPL 4+5 + FA Cup winners (3)
ECL - EFL Cup winners (1)
= 9

While there is a transfer from CL to EL for 4th in the EPL in rare circumstances, I don't think a European slot would ever be taken away completely from a team that didn't qualify through other means (i.e. from 5th in the league or the EFL Cup). 

In the scenario you present, there's two difference from this extreme one - there's very little chance of the CL winners (if from England) finishing outside the top 4, and the EFL Cup place in the ECL has already been transferred to the league.

However, I don't think much changes. The ECL regulations state that the place transfers to the league, without any further caveats around what might have happened elsewhere for other competitions:

Quote

If the winner of the domestic cup qualifies for the UEFA Champions League via the domestic championship and therefore enters the UEFA Champions League, the following adaptations are made to the UEFA Europa Conference League (see Annex A

1. The access stage initially reserved for the domestic cup winner is reserved for the club that finishes the domestic championship in the highest position of all the association’s clubs that qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League. 

2. Each representative of the domestic championship then enters the UEFA Europa Conference League at the stage initially reserved for the domestic championship representative ranked immediately above it.

3. The highest ranking domestic championship club not qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League at the stage initially reserved for the lowest ranking top domestic championship representative in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

https://documents.uefa.com/r/Regulations-of-the-UEFA-Europa-Conference-League-2021/22/Article-3-Entries-for-the-competition-Online

So essentially all that happens is, the domestic qualification is settled as normal, then West Ham and Leicester take their place in the respective competitions as champions of the one below. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by The Master