Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net

England will now be relying on a miracle from West Ham and Liverpool, who both have to turn around their ties against Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta on Thursday night, to have any hope of catching Germany.

Also See:

Aston Villa have a 2-1 first-leg lead against Lille in the Europa Conference League, but even if Unai Emery's side win and then win both their semi-final games and the final, it would not be enough for England to overtake Germany without one of West Ham or Liverpool progressing to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

In fact, Germany could mathematically secure an extra Champions League spot on Thursday if West Ham, Liverpool and Villa all lose.

As things stand, England are on track for just 17.8 points, which would be their lowest total since the 2016/17 and it would have been an even lower figure but for the introduction of the Europa Conference League in 2021-22 - putting things in perspective, the Premier League finished in the top two in six out of the last seven seasons.

Datawrapper

Allow Cookies Once

Italy on brink of sealing extra Champions League spot

The change will see 36 teams competing in the competition in a 'Swiss league' style, allowing for an additional place to be allocated to the two countries whose clubs perform best across all UEFA competitions.

Liverpool's shock 3-0 home defeat by Atalanta means Italy - who Opta say now has a 99.9 per cent chance of a fifth spot in next season's Champions League - can mathematically secure that extra place if Fiorentina win and Atalanta do not lose in their respective Europa Conference League and Europa League second legs on Thursday.

Coefficient points

Standard points for CL, EL & ECL

The number of points awarded each season is divided by the number of teams that participated for that association in that season and rounded to three decimal places.

England has three teams left in Europe with Liverpool and West Ham in the Europa League and Villa in the Europa Conference League.

Germany also has three teams remaining - Leverkusen in the Europa League along with Champions League semi-finalists Bayern and Dortmund.

Champions League

For example, based on the collective performance of their clubs last season, England and Italy would have both had an additional spot in the Champions League, meaning Liverpool and Atalanta - both fifth in their respective leagues - would have entered the competition.

How does this affect the other UEFA competitions?

Qualification for the two other UEFA competitions, the Europa League and Europa Conference League, will follow the same protocols as in previous years, albeit if the fifth spot qualifies for the Champions League, the Europa League spot will go to the team finishing sixth.

Similar format changes will also be applied to the Europa League (eight matches in the league stage) and Europa Conference League (six matches in the league stage) and both will also include 36 teams in the league phase.

If England receive five CL places, does the ECL spot go down to eighth?

Yes, it does - provided the domestic cups are won by those finishing inside the top seven as seen last season, with Manchester United winning the Carabao Cup and Manchester City winning the FA Cup.

Based on last season, eighth-placed Tottenham would have qualified for the Europa Conference League and Aston Villa would have been promoted to the Europa League.

How could this impact the 2024/25 domestic leagues schedules?

Given the Champions League will almost double in size - from a total of 125 games to 225 - at least four additional matchdays will be required to fit in the extra games

This will inevitably cause issues for domestic leagues, with fewer dates to fit in all their games.

How does the new Champions League format work?

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.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player



Has the Premier League had five CL participants before?

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.

Remarkably, there is even a chance - albeit an extremely unlikely one - of there being as many as seven Premier League clubs in the Champions League next season based on the change in rules.

That would require both the Champions League and Europa League winners to be from the Premier League and both teams finishing outside the top five in the top flight.

Get Sky Sports on WhatsApp
For more news relating to Manchester United, visit our sister site MUFC Live.