How Arsenal's 3-0 Win Over Real Madrid Earned Premier League Extra Champions League Place

Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid has earned the Premier League an extra Champions League slot for the 2025-26 season.

The Premier League earned the slot by securing one of the extra places for performance by clubs across the three European competitions.

As part of the new arrangement for the expansion of the competition, UEFA announced last season that two leagues will be rewarded with a European Performance Spot (EPS).

Due to the performance of Premier League teams in European competitions this season, England is now guaranteed a top-two spot in UEFA’s association club coefficient rankings, which earns European Performance Spot (EPS).

It means he Premier League will have an extra Champions League slot for the 2025-26 season after securing

The Premier League needed one win or two draws to seal one of the spots which was made possible by Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid.

The fifth place team in the Premier League will now qualify automatically for the Champions League next season.

Currently, there is a fierce battle among Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Manchester City to finish in the Champions League places.

Chelsea sits fourth on the log on the same points with fifth placed Newcastle United on 53 points. The Magpies have played a game less.

If Aston Villa wins the Champions League, and finishes fifth then six teams qualify for the Champions League — the top four, the Champions League titleholders and the EPS, which drops to sixth place.

The winners of this season’s Champions League and the winners of the UEFA Europa League will each be given a place in the 2025/26 Champions League, if they have not already qualified for the competition through their league positions.

It means the Premier League could potentially have as many as seven clubs in next season’s Champions League, the top five teams in the league, plus the Champions League winners, and the Europa League winners if they finish outside the top five.

How do the fifth-placed team qualify?

UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded with an extra Champions League place by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

It means the various leagues are competing with each other in a ranking called the “association club coefficient”.

Every win for a club in any of UEFA’s club competitions this season earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for a defeat.

On top of that, bonus points are awarded according to where each club finishes in their European league table. These are weighted according to the competition.

For example, finishing top of the table in the Champions League gets you 12 bonus points, while finishing top of the Europa League gets you six, and the top team in the Conference League gets four.

Every win for a club in any of UEFA’s club competitions this season earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for a defeat.

England (the Premier League) currently lead the way at the top of the table, with five teams through to the quarter-finals – more than any of their rivals.