UEFA Europa Conference League - Alkmaar, Legia and Zrinjski

[pauliewalnuts]

1 in a 1000 chance of Champions League, you say?

I might be failing to follow the proper line, but doesn't that actually say 1 in 1000 chance of finishing 5th?

[exigo]

1 in a 1000 chance of Champions League, you say?

I might be failing to follow the proper line, but doesn't that actually say 1 in 1000 chance of finishing 5th?

You're quite right. More Monday coffee needed.

[Risso]

So outside of the top 3, us finishing 11th is the most nailed on result!

[Smithy]

I said after the Arsenal game, before our run of four very winnable games, that we'd probably need 9 points from those games to keep the European dream alive.  7 would be acceptable, but less than that and it's probably gone.

We've got 7 from the first three of those games, so a win against Bournemouth and it's 10 from 12 and definitely game on. Big games agains Brentford, Fulham and Chelsea next month. And I'd fancy us on the last day at home to Brighton if beating them could sneak us above them and into 7th.

It's going to be tough though, you have to imagine Chelsea are going to go on a run at some point and string a few wins together, and Brentford and Brighton are both maintaining good form even if they're not stringing long winning runs together. 

My head says 8th is the absolute best we can do, but my heart says we can still sneak 7th and the last European place a with a bit of luck...

[Exeter 77]

Is there a scenario where the European places would go down to 9th? Maybe if Manchester United won the Europa League and finished outside the top 4 and Brighton won the FA Cup and finished between 5th and 8th. I can't quite remember how it works.

[algy]

Is there a scenario where the European places would go down to 9th? Maybe if Manchester United won the Europa League and finished outside the top 4 and Brighton won the FA Cup and finished between 5th and 8th. I can't quite remember how it works.

No, the lowest league position where your can possibly qualify via the league is 8th, and then only if another English team wins the Champions League or Europa League *and* finishes 5th-7th, *and* the FA Cup and League Cup are both won by teams in that top 7

[Risso]

Is there a scenario where the European places would go down to 9th? Maybe if Manchester United won the Europa League and finished outside the top 4 and Brighton won the FA Cup and finished between 5th and 8th. I can't quite remember how it works.

No, the lowest league position where your can possibly qualify via the league is 8th, and then only if another English team wins the Champions League or Europa League *and* finishes 5th-7th, *and* the FA Cup and League Cup are both won by teams in that top 7

I think that's right. England gets a maximum of 5 Champions League places (so top 4 and the team finishing outside the top 4 if they win the Europa League), two Europa League and 1 Conference place.

[algy]

Is there a scenario where the European places would go down to 9th? Maybe if Manchester United won the Europa League and finished outside the top 4 and Brighton won the FA Cup and finished between 5th and 8th. I can't quite remember how it works.

No, the lowest league position where your can possibly qualify via the league is 8th, and then only if another English team wins the Champions League or Europa League *and* finishes 5th-7th, *and* the FA Cup and League Cup are both won by teams in that top 7

I think that's right. England gets a maximum of 5 Champions League places (so top 4 and the team finishing outside the top 4 if they win the Europa League), two Europa League and 1 Conference place.

Well, I'd gone off what it said on the Premier League website.  Thinking about it since, there is one (highly specific, undocumented, and quite unlikely) way that you might get down to 9th.

If you had a situation where:
- The FA Cup & League cup are both won by teams in the top 6 and
- The team who wins the UEFA Cup or the Champions League finishes 5th-7th (i.e. doesn't qualify for the CL via the league) and
- The team who finishes 8th also wins the UEFA Conference League thing and doesn't win the FA Cup (i.e. doesn't qualify for either the Champions League or UEFA Cup via the league)

Then possibly the team who finishes 9th might qualify for the UEFA Conference League.  It's not documented anywhere I can find out what happens in that specific scenario, but if the same rules are applied to the UEFA Conference as are to the Europa League then in that very specific situation, the Conference place would go down to 9th.

It wouldn't if the Conference League winners finished anywhere other than 8th* in that scenario, and there's no advantage to English clubs winning the Europa League and the Champions League because, as Risso said, it's limited to a maximum of 5 places so that'd just mean the side who ended up 4th would play in the Europa League.



* slight really odd clause - it is possible for them to finish 7th provided that the team who finishes 8th is the one that wins the UEFA Cup or Champions League.  Basically, they have to qualify for the Conference League via the League (or League Cup) *and* win the Conference League in the same season.  It's no good them qualifying for the Europa League or Champions League - the extra place would disappear.  Likewise with the extra Champions League place - it's only available if the side doesn't qualify for the Champions League already.

[eamonn]

Impeccable research, algy. Hope we get 9th just for your brain.

[edgysatsuma89]

Do words float around you Algy, like Sherlock?

[AV82EC]

Huge round of applause to algy there. I'd have got to the first paragraph of the Premier League rulebook and probably got distracted by Twitter or something.

[Baldy]

Our chances of getting into Europe this season are remote.

However, keep our best players and add two or three more quality players and next season looks very promising.

During the summer, the big boys will be flying around Brighton, Fulham and Brentford and will skin them to the bone. 

[algy]

Do words float around you Algy, like Sherlock?

Hehe, well I had a bit of a quiet morning & that’s rarely a good thing for my rather overactive imagination :p

[Dick Edwards]

Do words float around you Algy, like Sherlock?

Ha!Ha! Brilliant 

[Smirker]

Alright lads