English Teams Playing in Europe, 2025-26 Season

Which English teams are playing in Europe in the 2025-26 season?

Here is the list of the Premier League teams playing in Champions League, Europa League and Conference League during the 2025-26 season.

But first, a little background. As each English Premier League season winds down, there is a phrase that will be tossed around quite a bit: “Get into Europe.” What does this mean?

The short answer here is that “making the top four” means “Qualify for European club competition next season.” But let’s go just a little deeper into it.

How is Soccer Organized Worldwide?

World soccer is divided into seven regions; Europe is one. Within each region there are three types of competitions: nation vs nation to qualify for the World Cup every four years, nation vs nation for the regional championship every (some other) four years, and club vs club for the regional championship. World Cup Qualifying is called just that. The others, in Europe’s case, are the European Championships and the Champions League.

The way teams qualify for the Champions League is also pretty complicated, but let’s keep it simple here. In England’s Premier League, the top five teams go to the group stage. This is basically what people mean when they say “Get into Europe.” The Champions League starts in September and ends in May.

This video is all about the worldwide structure of football:

Three Tournaments: Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League

There is another European championship called the Europa League. Here, England is represented by the team finishing 6th and the team winning the FA Cup — unless the latter also qualifies for Champions League, in which case their spot goes to the no. 7 team. (Read all about the Europa League here.)

And finally we have the UEFA Europa Conference League. This one takes the winner of the League Cup — again, unless that team qualifies elsewhere, in which case the next highest club in the table goes. Usually, this is no. 7 or 8 in England.

English Teams in the 2025-26 Champions League

For the 2025-26 competitions, England are represented in the Champions League by Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle, and Tottenham. The first 5 made it based on their finishing place in the league, and despite finishing 17th, Tottenham won last season’s Europa League, securing them a spot in the Champions League for the 2025-26 season.

Here is the schedule for the 2025-26 Champions League.

English Teams in the 2025-26 Europa League

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace both qualified for the 2025-26 Europa League. Aston Villa got there based on finishing 6th in the Premier League. Crystal Palace made it because they won the FA Cup (their first ever club trophy).

However, Palace ran afoul of some obscure rules regarding ownership of clubs in the same competition, so they were bounced down to the Conference League. Nottingham Forest took their place in Europa.

Here is the schedule for the 2025-26 Europa League.

English Teams in the 2025-26 Europa Conference League

Nottingham Forest qualified for the 2025-26 Europa Conference League, because Newcastle, the EFL Cup winners, also qualified for the Champions League by finishing in 5th, meaning the Conference League spot goes to Nottingham Forest as the team who finished in 7th. BUT since Forest went up to the Europa League, Crystal Palace are in the 2025-26 Conference League.

Here is the schedule for the 2025-26 Europa Conference League.

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