Does the Europa League winner qualify for next season’s Champions League?

Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta will fight it out on Wednesday (22 May) to be crowned 2023/24 Europa League winners, although their presence in the final complicates matters slightly when it comes to deciding which teams qualify for the expanded 2024/25 Champions League.

How did Leverkusen and Atalanta qualify for the 2024/25 Champions League?

The winners of Europa League directly qualify for the next season’s league phase, which will have 36 teams in it and follow a whole new format.

Leverkusen, though, have already sealed their place after their incredible season in the Bundesliga, which they won for the first time in their history under Xabi Alonso, who also oversaw the first ever unbeaten campaign in the German top flight.

Atalanta’s participation in the league phase hasn’t been officially confirmed yet by UEFA, but they will be there. Two of the four extra places in the “new” Champions League go to the top two performing countries in European competition the previous season (this one), which will be Serie A and the Bundesliga.

As a result, the top five Italian and German clubs qualify and Atalanta, currently fifth in Italy, cannot be caught by sixth place Roma (and could finish as high as third).

What is the UEFA club coefficient?

Who, then, takes the place of the Europa League winner? The answer, as ever, lies in the UEFA club coefficient, which is calculated based on clubs’ performances in European competitions in the last five years.

The governing body states “if the Europa League winners qualify directly for the league phase of the Champions League via their domestic league, then the club with the best individual coefficient of all the teams in Champions League qualifying (champions path and league path) goes directly through to the league phase.

UEFA also adds that domestic “leapfrogging” is not allowed, which means the team due to play in the qualifying rounds that has the highest co-efficient won’t go straight into the league phase if there is a team that finished above them in their domestic competition that hasn’t already qualified for the Champions League league phase directly.

However, to confuse matters, that only applies if Atalanta finish in third or fourth place in Serie A, not fifth.

Which team will take the Europa League winner’s place in the Champions League?

The team scheduled to take part in Champions League qualifying that has the highest club coefficient is Benfica, who were due to play in the third qualifying round.

They finished in second place in the Portuguese league in 2023/24, behind Sporting Clube de Portugal, who have qualified directly for the league phase.

As a result, there are no obstacles to Benfica to joining their Lisbon rivals in the 2024/25 group phase. With all the teams above them in the UEFA club coefficient either already qualified or out of contention, the Portuguese giants should be assured of Champions League participation next season if Leverkusen win the Europa League, or Atalanta lift the trophy and finish third or fourth in Serie A.

If, however, Atalanta are victorious but finish fifth in the Italian top flight, the Europa League winners’ place will go to the team that finishes sixth in Serie A, which will be Roma unless there is a 10-goal swing with Lazio on the final weekend of the season.