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Champions League and Europa League: Who qualifies next season?

Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal will represent England in European finals this season

The Champions League and Europa League finals will be contested by four English teams for the first time in history.

Liverpool and Tottenham meet in the Champions League final in Madrid on 1 June, with Chelsea and Arsenal playing in the Europa League final in Baku on Wednesday, 29 May.

With the winners of both tournaments getting in next season’s Champions League, what does that mean for English qualification places? BBC Sport has a look.

Who qualifies for Europe usually?

The top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the Champions League, while the FA Cup winners, the Carabao Cup winners and the fifth-placed side in the top flight go into the Europa League.

If the cup winners finish in the top four, their places go to the teams ranked sixth and seventh.

But the winners of the Champions League and Europa League – both guaranteed to be English – also qualify. So what happens here?

Will England get an extra Champions League spot?

England will only get a fifth team in the Champions League if a club who finish outside the top four win one of the tournaments.

Arsenal are likely to finish fifth (or sixth if Manchester United overtake them on the final day). The Gunners are three points and eight goals behind Tottenham with one game left.

That would mean they need to win the Europa League to qualify for next season’s Champions League. In the unlikely event that Tottenham finish fifth, then Mauricio Pochettino’s side would need to win the Champions League. Otherwise fifth spot means a Europa League place for next season.

What happens if a team win either cup and finish in the top four?

Liverpool and Chelsea are guaranteed top-four spots, with Tottenham likely to book theirs on Sunday.

If any of those teams win their tournament, their Champions League spot does not transfer down to the next Premier League side.

So Arsenal cannot finish fifth, lose their Europa League final and qualify for the Champions League.

What happens to their spot may surprise you.

If Chelsea win the Europa League, it means Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg go straight into the group stages instead of qualifying. That is because the Austrian Bundesliga, at 11th, is the top-ranked league not to have an automatic Champions League qualifier.

Presuming Spurs hold onto a top-four spot, then the third-placed team in France’s Ligue 1 – likely to be Lyon or Saint-Etienne – go straight into the group stages instead of the qualifiers. France is the highest-ranked league, at fifth, to have a team enter the qualifiers.

So Chelsea can deny Arsenal a place?

Yes, effectively Chelsea can stop Arsenal qualifying for the Champions League twice – through both the Premier League and Europa League (again presuming Arsenal don’t finish in the top four).

Maurizio Sarri’s side’s group spot for next season is booked through the league, which means all they are playing for in the Europa League final is the prestige of winning the trophy.

If they win, they are still in the Champions League and Arsenal miss out. If Arsenal win, then they will both be in next season’s Champions League.

But Arsenal are guaranteed at least a Europa League group spot, right?

Wrong.

The teams who finish fifth (unless they win one of the tournaments) and sixth will qualify for the Europa League – along with the FA Cup winners.

That will probably be Arsenal and Manchester United in either order. If Manchester City win the FA Cup, then seventh place in the Premier League will go into the Europa League second qualifying round on 25 July.

But if Watford win the FA Cup, then the Hornets will go straight into the group stages – and sixth place in the Premier League goes into the qualifiers instead.

That would mean Arsenal or United’s first leg would clash with their pre-season plans abroad.

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