Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are set to clash for Champions League glory in Budapest this Saturday, but attention is already turning to next season's competition as teams discover their seeding for the revamped league phase.
Premier League's Five Representatives
The Premier League will boast five representatives in next season's Champions League, with champions Arsenal joined by Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Liverpool. This follows strong performances by English clubs in European competitions this season, securing one of the European Performance Spots for the Premier League, with the other going to La Liga.
Liverpool clinched the additional spot by finishing fifth in the Premier League on the final day. Had they leapfrogged Aston Villa into fourth, the league would have secured a sixth berth, as Villa won the Europa League last week.
Seeding Pots for the League Phase
Qualified teams are placed into seeded pots based on UEFA club coefficients for the 36-team league phase draw. Arsenal, as Premier League winners, will be in Pot 1. Aston Villa, after their Europa League triumph, are set for Pot 2, while Manchester United, with the lowest coefficient among Premier League sides, also land in Pot 2.
Clubs will play two matches—one home and one away—against teams from each of the four pots. Since teams from the same nation cannot face each other in the league phase, English clubs are guaranteed to meet two of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Inter Milan, Barcelona, or Atletico Madrid.
Pot Allocations as They Stand
- Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid
- Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven
- Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray
- Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Lens, Como (seven teams still to qualify)
Aston Villa's rise in the coefficients follows three consecutive seasons in European competition, including a Conference League semi-final and Champions League quarter-final before their Europa League win. In contrast, Manchester United's coefficient has dropped after early Champions League exits and a season without European football.
Seven places remain through qualifying rounds, with two teams going into Pot 3 and the rest into Pot 4. Como, managed by Cesc Fabregas, will compete in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
