The final seven places in this season's Champions League league phase will be confirmed next week. A total of 36 teams will compete in the league phase. Of those, 29 sides have already sealed their places.
They consist of the best-placed finishers across Europe's top-ranked leagues from the 2025-26 season. The best-placed teams from the lower-ranked European nations entered qualifying rounds. Qualifying consists of four rounds, with the last of those four rounds taking place across this week and next week.
Five of the seven remaining places are between teams in the champions path, consisting of sides who won their respective league title from lower-ranked nations. The other two places will came from the league path which is contested by teams who did not win their league titles last season, but did still earn a place to reach the qualifying rounds. A total of five English clubs qualified.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool qualified for finishing in the Premier League's top five, while Aston Villa earned their spot for winning last season's Europa League. Spain also have five teams in the league phase. They will be represented by Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Real Betis.
Traditionally, England is awarded four places in the Champions League. But strong performances in Uefa club competitions last season mean that they and Spain were each given one of two Elite Performance Spots (EPS), resulting in Liverpool and Real Betis qualifying. Italy and Germany have four representatives each.
Inter Milan, Napoli, Roma and Como will be joined by Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and Stuttgart. France have three direct qualification spots. Lens and Lille qualified by finishing in second and third respectively.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
