After placing last in their respective groups, Newcastle United and Manchester United were both eliminated from the Champions League during the group stage.
Newcastle’s 2-1 loss to AC Milan guaranteed that they would place lower in Group F behind Borussia Dortmund, PSG, and AC Milan, while Erik ten Hag’s team placed lower in Group A behind FC Copenhagen, Bayern Munich, and Galatasaray.
Not just the participating clubs will be impacted by their elimination from the competition; the Magpies and Red Devils will also need to recover from these setbacks. The elimination of Newcastle and Manchester United from the Champions League will hurt the Premier League as a whole.
Ahead of a restructured Champions League, two nations will receive an additional spot in the competition for clubs that did not qualify via the “traditional” routes—such as placing in the top four of the Premier League—in accordance with new UEFA regulations. The coefficient of each European league and the teams’ results in UEFA competitions from the previous season will be taken into consideration when making this decision.
Thus, English clubs as a whole would need to perform well in Europe for a fifth-place Premier League team to qualify for the Champions League the following season. However, Newcastle and Manchester United’s dismal Champions League finishes have jeopardised that. The Premier League (12.13) is currently led by the average coefficients of Serie A teams (13.14) and Bundesliga teams (13.36). As things stand, England’s top division will not be offered a spot in the Champions League for the following season.
English teams need to improve their coefficient rankings by doing well in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League from now until the end of the season. The teams that have secured their spot in the next round of their respective competitions—Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton, and Aston Villa—will need to advance far in order to support the Premier League’s coefficient.
As both Newcastle United and Manchester United deal with their individual Premier League form problems, supporters of those English teams may now be rooting for their fellow sides in Europe in hopes that fifth place will become available.
