Dortmund beat Paris St-Germain to grab an extra Champions League qualifying spot for the Bundesliga; Italy have also secured a bonus spot in next season's expanded competition; only the top four in the Premier League this season will qualify for next season's edition
Wednesday 1 May 2024 22:29, UK
Borussia Dortmund have secured an extra Champions League spot for the Bundesliga next season, confirming the Premier League misses out on a fifth place in the competition.
Italy had secured one of the two extra berths already and Germany confirmed what appeared certain going into Wednesday night, with Dortmund's 1-0 win over Paris St-Germain putting them into an unassailable position behind Italy in the coefficient standings.
England's poor performance this season across European competitions has left them third in the coefficient table. Only the top four finishers in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League.
Even if Aston Villa were to beat Olympiakos in both legs of their Europa Conference League semi-finals and then defeat Fiorentina or Club Brugge in the final, England needed the remaining German teams - Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen - to lose all their games to overtake Germany.
England has finished in the top two of the coefficient table in six of the last seven seasons but the Premier League currently has their lowest coefficient total since 2016/17 - and it would have been an even lower but for the introduction of the Europa Conference League in 2021/22.
France, in fourth, have also seen their slim hopes of leapfrogging Germany ended.
In the coefficient standings, a win is worth two points, a draw one and there are also bonus points for reaching certain stages of competitions.
Italy could end up with six teams competing at European football's top table next season. That would occur if Atalanta, who are sixth in Serie A, remain outside of the top five and win the Europa League.
Taking the total number of teams from 32 to 36 in the Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
Previously in 2005, when Liverpool won the Champions League but finished outside the top four, the Premier League was granted five potential Champions League berths, with the caveat of having to go through qualifiers.
During the 2015/16 season, Spain became the first association to have five teams in the Champions League group stage after Sevilla lifted the Europa League, despite finishing outside the top four in LaLiga the previous campaign, while Valencia came through the play-off round.
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