A specific example of the circumstances under which some people
believe the fifth place club could be excluded from Europe is when the sixth
place finisher wins the Champion’s League, the seventh place finisher wins the
Europa League, the eighth place finisher wins the FA cup, and the ninth place
finisher wins the Capital One cup. In
other words, this scenario:
1. Don't
win any cup
2. Don't win any cup
3. Don't win any cup
4. Don't win any cup
5. Don't win any cup
6. Win CL
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup
9. Win C1 Cup
2. Don't win any cup
3. Don't win any cup
4. Don't win any cup
5. Don't win any cup
6. Win CL
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup
9. Win C1 Cup
It is my opinion that under these circumstances the first
nine clubs all qualify for Europe. I
will work through the UEFA rules to show why this is correct.
Annex A of the rules provides the standard answer when there
are no unusual circumstances. Applying
these rules to the above scenario we start with these results:
1. Don't
win any cup CL group phase
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
To determine what happens with the Champions League title
holder we have to look at Rule 3.03 which states:
The UEFA Champions
League titleholder is guaranteed a place in the group stage even if it does not
qualify for the competition through its domestic championship. If the UEFA Champions League titleholder
qualifies for the UEFA Europa League through one of its domestic competitions,
the number of places to which its association is entitled in the UEFA Europa
League is decreased by one. The created vacancy is rebalanced accordingly and
priority for the UEFA Europa League is given to the domestic cup winners (in
accordance with the entry stage as per the access list).
Standing on its own, this rule makes it clear that if the
Champion’s League title holder also qualified for the Europa League, England
would lose one of its Europa League entries.
Implicit in this rule, in my opinion, is a determination that if the
Champion’s League titleholder does not qualify for Europe at all, there would
be no loss of a Europa League spot. If
this were not the case, it would make more sense to write the rule as simply
stating that if the Champion’s League’s titleholder does not qualify for the
Champions League through domestic competition, the association will always lose
one place in the Europa League.
This means that we our scenario now goes:
1. Don't win any cup CL
group phase
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
Rule 3.04 provides:
The UEFA Europa
League titleholder is guaranteed a place in the competition as a minimum in the
play-offs. It will have priority filling a vacancy created in the group stage
or in the play-offs by the UEFA Champions League titleholder.
This rule is clear.
The Europa League titleholder always enters the Champion’s League and
has a priority filling a vacancy created at the group stage by the Champion’s
League titleholder. In our hypothetical scenario,
no such vacancy exists because our Champion’s League qualifier is also from
same association and did not earn a Champion’s League place on its own. This means in our scenario the Europa League
Titleholder would enter in the playoff rounds of the Champion’s league. So we are now here:
1. Don't
win any cup CL group phase
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL CL playoff phase
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup CL playoff phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL CL playoff phase
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
Rules 3.05 and 3.06 make it clear that the Europa League
titleholder gets to play directly in the group phase if it qualifies for the
group phase through its domestic competition and that it gets to play in the playoff
phase if it qualifies for the playoff phase directly through domestic
competition. In our scenario neither of
these two circumstances occurs.
Rule 3.07 details what would happen in all other possible
situations. It is confusing, but I think
I have sorted it out. The relevant
scenario is the fourth one on the list where there is “No vacancy in the group
stage or play-offs” because the “UCL titleholder does not qualify for the
competition and comes from an association ranked 1 to 12 in the access
list.” In our scenario, England is
ranked 1, 2, or 3 on the access list. Therefore,
the Europa League title holder enters the Champions League in the Play-offs on
the League path. So there is no change
in the current list.
Rule 3.08 provides:
Exceptionally, an
association may be represented by five clubs in the competition if the UEFA
Champions League and/or UEFA Europa League titleholder does not also qualify
through its domestic championship.
This tells us that our current scenario is wrong because we
have six clubs in the Champions League and, implicit in 3.08, is a five club limit
on Champions League entries from a single association. However, we have not yet encountered the rule
that tells us what to do about this problem.
Rule 3.09 is that rule:
If the UEFA Champions
League titleholder and the UEFA Europa League titleholder come from the same
association and do not qualify for the competition through their domestic
championship, one of the following scenarios applies:
It then goes on to list six possible scenarios. The third scenario is the one that applies to
our hypothetical:
If the association is
entitled to four places in the UEFA Champions League and neither titleholder
qualifies for the UEFA Europa League through its domestic championship, the
lowest-placed of the association’s UEFA Champions League representatives is
automatically transferred to the UEFA Europa League (into the UEFA Europa
League group stage and the access list will be rebalanced accordingly). In this
case, the association of the titleholders is entitled to one additional place
(total of five) in the UEFA Champions League and one additional place (total of
four) in the UEFA Europa League.
This rule clearly states that the association can have nine
total entries into Europe. Applying this
rule to our hypothetical scenarios we end up like this:
1. Don't
win any cup CL group phase
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup EL group phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL CL playoff phase
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
2. Don't win any cup CL group phase
3. Don't win any cup CL group phase
4. Don't win any cup EL group phase
5. Don't win any cup EL group phase
6. Win CL CL group phase
7. Win EL CL playoff phase
8. Win FA Cup EL group phase
9. Win C1 Cup EL 3rd qualifying round
The one thing that is not clear to me is what rebalancing
the access list “accordingly” means exactly.
There is a potential reference to this subject in Annex A which states:
If the access list
needs to be adjusted once all the participants are known and admitted, priority
for the UEFA Champions League will be given to the winners of the domestic
championship (in accordance with the entry stage as per the access list). The
adjusted list will be announced by circular letter.
This suggests that the actual process of rebalancing the
access list is not a simple one and cannot be decided until the actual
facts are known. I would guess that this
means that someone gets kicked out of the Europa League group phase to make
room for the extra club from England.
Possibly, it would be the 5th place English club being
bounced out of the group phase. In any
case, this would cause a cascade effect on all the earlier qualifying rounds and
could, I suppose, bounce England’s Capital One cup winner down to the 2nd
qualifying round. On the other hand, the
rebalancing might always be to the detriment of lower ranked associations. I simply don’t know and haven’t found
anything in the rules that addresses this issue. (I have not read the entire 94 pages of the
rules—just the portions that seemed potentially relevant.)
I think the best way of understanding the European
qualification rules is to understand that both European title holders will
always qualify for the Champions League.
Also, any club that qualifies for Europe through their domestic competition
cannot lose their place in Europe because another club from the same
association wins a European title.
However, a club can be dropped from the Champions League into the Europa
League or placed into an earlier qualifying found because another club from
their association (or from some other association) won a European title.
Finally, I am going to try to blog more regularly during
this off season (or should I say close season). I intend to devote an hour a day
to my blog. This does not mean I will
blog every day because some of my blog posts require more work than an hour and
also because I am certain there were be days when I cannot spend any time on
the blog—for example, when I am out of town on vacation (holiday) or work
(work).
In any case, if any regular (or irregular) readers of my
blog have any suggestions for subjects they would like me to write about, I
would certainly appreciate the suggestions.