How Brighton, Brentford or Bournemouth could play in Europe

Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth all have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe - but need Chelsea to win the Conference League and finish seventh in the Premier League.

The final matches in the Premier League take place on Sunday and there is still a scenario in which 10 of the teams, external would be playing in European competition in 2025-26.

Six English clubs will be in the Champions League - Liverpool and Arsenal have already secured their spots and will be joined by three of Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.

Manchester United play Tottenham in the final of the Europa League in Bilbao, Spain on Wednesday and the winner of that match will also be in next season's Champions League.

Crystal Palace's 1-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final has taken the Eagles into the 2025-26 Europa League, where they will be joined by whichever team finishes sixth in the Premier League.

The complication comes with Newcastle, whose Carabao Cup victory has ensured themselves a Conference League place at least. But if they finish sixth they would go into the Europa League instead, while a top-five place for Eddie Howe's team would move them into the Champions League instead.

Chelsea play Real Betis in the Conference League final on Wednesday, 28 May, with the winner qualifying for the Europa League. But Enzo Maresca's Blues also could still claim Champions League football with a top-five Premier League finish.

If Chelsea win the Conference League and come seventh, that would open up their Conference League place to the Premier League team which finishes eighth - with Brighton, who beat Liverpool 3-2 on Monday, in that spot, although Brentford and Bournemouth could still overtake them.

It is a similar situation if Chelsea win the Conference League and come sixth, with Newcastle seventh, meaning eighth in the Premier League would again be enough for European competition.

If Chelsea lose the Conference League final or finish in a Champions League place, the picture becomes much clearer.

The top five plus the Europa League winners would be in the Champions League, Crystal Palace and the sixth-placed team would be in the Europa League and the side that finishes seventh in the Premier League would be in the Conference League.

The race for the top four has been an integral part of the Premier League for the past two decades.

But when Uefa expanded the competition for this season to feature 36 teams all playing in one league phase, that was an increase of four sides per season. Two of those additional spots went to extra qualifiers with the other two going to the two nations whose teams had performed the best in the previous campaign.

For 2024-25, Germany's Borussia Dortmund and Italy's Bologna benefited, but for 2025-26 the Premier League got one of the extra places, with the other awarded to Spain's La Liga.

The winners of the Europa League qualify for the Champions League, but both Manchester United and Tottenham, 16th and 17th respectively in the Premier League, failed to qualify for that competition through their league position.

We already know 22 of the 36 teams that will be in the league phase of the Champions League next season.

England: Liverpool, Arsenal, plus three of Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City or Nottingham Forest. Plus whoever wins the Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham.

Italy: Napoli, Inter Milan, Atalanta, plus one of Juventus, Roma or Lazio.

Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal.

Germany: Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund.

France: Paris St-Germain, Marseille and Monaco.

Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.

Portugal: Sporting.

Belgium: Union St-Gilloise or Club Bruges.

Turkey: Galatasaray.

Czech Republic: Slavia Prague.

Greece: Olympiakos.

Seven teams will come through the four qualifying rounds to make up the 36 sides in the league phase.

Scottish champions Celtic enter in the final play-off round, while runners-up Rangers start in the second qualifying round.

Welsh title winners The New Saints begin in the first qualifying round, as do Shelbourne and Linfield, who won the League of Ireland and NIFL Premiership respectively.

Manchester City will move up to third in the Premier League if they get at least a draw in their home match against Bournemouth on Tuesday.

If Pep Guardiola's side do draw that game, that would mean four teams would be level on 66 points going into the final day, with Nottingham Forest one behind on 65.

Two-time European champions Forest have not played in Europe since 1995-96, but are guaranteed to do so next season, but it is not yet known in what competition.

If they lose at home to Chelsea, they will be in the Conference League, while a win would leave them in at least the Europa League and maybe the Champions League, but they need one of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Manchester City to slip up.

City won the Champions League in 2023 and will take their place in next season's tournament with four points from their games against Bournemouth and then at Fulham on the final day.

Newcastle will qualify if they win at home against Everton, with Aston Villa at Manchester United.

Tuesday, 20 May

Sunday, 25 May