Newcastle, along with a number of Premier League rivals, look set to be handed a massive boost in their hopes of Champions League qualification for next season.
It’s looking increasingly likely that the Premier League will be granted FIVE spots in next season’s league phase, despite early exits from UEFA’s top competition for Man City and Liverpool.
A strong finish to the season is needed by the Magpies, and hopefully the FA Cup or Europa League finals don’t throw a cruel twist of fate like they did last season.
The Premier League’s hopes of securing five Champions League spots for next season are looking very good.
Manchester City and Liverpool may be out, with Real Madrid beating City in the play-offs and PSG overcoming Liverpool on penalties on Tuesday night.
However, Wednesday night saw both Aston Villa and Arsenal progress to the quarter-finals and Spain lose a big gun as Atletico Madrid were beaten by Real Madrid in a shootout.
Italy also endured a disastrous play-off round, losing AC Milan, Atalanta and Juventus following defeats to Feyenoord, Club Brugge and PSV respectively, greatly damaging Serie A’s own chances of securing five places in Europe’s premier club competition.
Following the completion of all last 16 games, ESPN have reported on the current rankings, where the two top leagues will be handed bonus places in the 2025/26 Champions League.
This is how the current UEFA coefficient table looks for each country as of Thursday 13th March, with the brackets highlighting how many clubs that league has left in European competitions:
1. England, 23.035 – (5/7)
2. Spain, 20.892 – (5/7)
3. Italy, 19.375 – (4/8)
4. Germany, 17.546 – (3/8)
5. Portugal, 16.250 – (1/5)
6. France, 15,785 – (2/7)
7. Belgium, 15.250 – (1/5)
8. Netherlands, 15.250 – (3/6)
9. Greece, 12.187 – (2/4)
10. Norway, 10.812 – (2/4)
Man Utd take on Real Sociedad tonight (1-1) in the Europa League, while Tottenham (1-0 down) face AZ Alkmaar.
In the Europa Conference League, Chelsea (2-1 up) face Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs.
As things stand, this would be the breakdown of European qualification if England did get five Champions League spots:
Champions League: 1-5th
Europa League: 6th + FA Cup winners
Conference League: Carabao Cup winners
If Liverpool win the Carabao Cup, their place will transfer to the league regarding the Europa Conference League and the same would apply for Newcastle if we won the trophy and finished inside the top six.