england can have five teams in the champions league.
england can have five teams in the champions league.
how many teams can england have in the champions league?
five
liverpool f.c. qualified for the 2005–06 uefa champions league by a special dispensation from uefa. the premier league was allocated four places in the 2005–06 uefa champions league season as of right. uefa allowed liverpool to compete as champions of the 2004–05 uefa champions league, but would not allocate an extra place. the selection of the four clubs to enter the champions league was the decision of the football association (fa). the fa's rule was that the first four in the final english premier league table would enter the champions league. the fa were firm on this ruling, awarding the fourth and final english place in the competition to liverpool's local rivals everton f.c., since everton finished fourth in the 2004–05 fa premier league. liverpool had finished fifth in the table. the public reaction to this decision prompted uefa to make a one-off exception for liverpool to enter the tournament, as the winners of the champions league had traditionally entered the tournament the next season to defend the title, while also keeping everton's spot which gave english teams five places for the 2005–06 champions league. uefa amended the qualification criteria for the champions league winner to enter the subsequent tournament to prevent a recurrence.
liverpool f.c. 2005–06 uefa champions league qualification
in 2016, uefa again discussed the possibility of creating a closed league containing the 16 best teams in european football from the highest ranked national leagues. these 16 teams would have been divided into 2 groups, with 8 teams in each group. after 56 games in each group under the round-robin system, the teams that finished in places 1-4 would qualify for the quarter-finals. that plan was finally rejected and uefa, in order to avoid the creation of a super league, made changes to the structure of the uefa champions league. uefa announced that, for the trade cycle 2018–21, england, italy, spain and germany would have 4 teams in the uefa champions league group stage without having to compete in play-offs. this means that the number of direct places will be increased from 22 to 26. the 6 remaining places will come from the champions' path (down from 5 teams to 4 teams) and the non-champions' path (down from 5 teams to 2 teams). if the title holder of this competition qualifies for the champions league from its domestic league, the champion of the country with the 11th placed uefa coefficient will go through into the uefa champions league group stage; if not, the title holder has the right to defend the trophy. uel defending champions also acquire the right to compete in the uefa champions league group stage, without the opportunity of directly securing a play-off berth as in the 2015–18 trade cycle agreements. if the uel champion automatically qualifies for the uefa champions league group stage via its domestic league, the third ranked team of the country with the 5th placed uefa coefficient will replace the uel winner.
european super league (association football)