How Liverpool can finish fifth in the Premier League and still qualify for the Champions League next year

Change is on the horizon in football - namely, in the Champions League. The 2023/24 will be the last iteration of the tournament as we know it - but these alternations could bring benefits for clubs in England.

Should the necessary criteria be met, we could have five teams from England in the Champions League next year - giving Liverpool a much greater chance of claming a spot in Europe’s top competition.

Should five teams from the Premier League be allowed into the Champions League in 2024/25, it wouldn’t be the first time that this has taken place. Five teams from England played in the 2005/06 Champions League, as Liverpool won it in the previous year in Istanbul but failed to finish inside the top four of the Premier League at the end of the 2004/05 season.

What will need to occur for five Premier League teams to win qualification?

For five Premier League teams to reach the Champions League in 2024/25, it will require teams from England to outperform clubs from divisions abroad in European competitions this season. The two teams with the best coefficients this season will see an extra spot allocated for the Champions League next campaign.

A quote from the official Premier League website reads: “This also allows for an additional place to be each allocated to two countries whose clubs collectively performed the best in UEFA competitions the season before.”

In six of the past seven seasons, England has been in the top two of the best UEFA coefficient, missing out to Germany in 2019-20 by one victory. There are eight English clubs in European competitions this season, so every win by a Premier League side is worth slightly less as the coefficient score is based on average. However, if enough teams perform well it is likely fifth place this season will be in the Champions League next year.

What other changes have been made?

Starting from 2024/25, the Champions League group stage will transition into a ‘Swiss League’ system. In this replacement of the group stage, 36 teams will play eight times in a giant league - the top eight from these will receive automatic qualification to the last 16.

These fixtures will not be selected randomly - instead, they will be determined using a ‘seeding pot’ to allow for a balanced set of games [via UEFA].

Teams that finish from 9th to 24th in the league will then battle it out in the playoff stage for a place in the round of 16. Teams that finished 9th to 16th will play a team that finished from 17th to 24th and vice versa.