UEFA confirm three extra Champions League clubs after rule change & Newcastle United blow

UEFA have confirmed the two additional clubs that will be competing in the Champions League in 2024-25.

After Italy and Germany scored the top two highest coefficients for the 2023-24 campaign, they were granted an extra qualification spot for the subsequent Champions League campaign. As a result, fifth place in both the Serie A and Bundesliga will enter into the Champions League group stage as part of a major format change.

Bologna from Serie A and 2023-24 Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund from the Bundesliga will enter the group stage next season. The Champions League will now be in a ‘Swiss league’ format consisting of 36 teams opposed to the previous 32 team format.

In addition to Bologna and Dortmund, the further two Champions League spots will go to Brest, who finished third in Ligue 1 in 2023-24 and an extra club via the champions path of qualifying.

England missed out on getting an additional Champions League spot after Newcastle United and Manchester United failed to get out of their respective groups while Aston Villa in the Conference League were the only English side to make it past the quarter-finals of their respective European competition.

An additional Champions League spot for England would have resulted in Tottenham Hotspur qualifying for the Champions League, Chelsea qualifying for the Europa League and Newcastle qualifying for the Conference League.

Instead, Spurs and Chelsea had to settle for Europa League and Conference League respectively while Newcastle missed out on Europe completely after Manchester United secured a Europa League place by winning the FA Cup.

Newcastle are only the second side in the last decade to finish inside the top seven in the Premier League and not qualify for Europe, the other being Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2019-20.