What happens if Aston Villa win Europa League? Scenarios for Champions League qualification in Premier League

What happens if Aston Villa win Europa League? Scenarios for Champions League qualification in Premier League originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Aston Villa were hoping to earn their first major European trophy since 1982 when they toppled Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam.

Villa defeated fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest in the semifinals of the 2025/26 Europa League to secure a showdown with Freiburg in Istanbul.

In the new format of the competition, a Europa League title guarantees the victor a spot in next year's Champions League competition, a valuable and lucrative reward for a continental championship.

However, Aston Villa have also been in the running for Champions League qualification through Premier League finish, as they fight for a top-five place in the English domestic league.

As the club cannot claim two places in the Champions League next season, The Sporting News explains what would happen if Aston Villa were to gain a place in the UCL league phase through two different avenues, and who would benefit from such an outcome.

MORE:Tracking European qualification for Premier League teams including all scenarios

What happens if Aston Villa win the Europa League?

First things first, now that Aston Villa have won the Europa League, it guaranteed them qualification them to the Champions League no matter where they finish in the Premier League table.

However, because Villa had confirmed a top-five finish in the English top flight before the final, they had already secured a Champions League spot, especially since league table supersedes qualification via a European title.

However, the trickle-down effect through the rest of the English top flight is vastly different if they also finish top five in the league table versus if they do not.

Here is a run-through of what happens in each scenario.

MORE:Tracking all teams qualified to the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League tournament

If Aston Villa finish fifth in the Premier League

There is one particular scenario which would see sixth place in the Premier League table awarded a Champions League qualifying spot.

In this scenario, the fifth Champions League place awarded to England by UEFA for European performance is not locked into the fifth-place finisher. Instead, it is awarded to the "highest-placed team not already qualified for the competition," it would fall to sixth place in the standings. This is almost always given to the fifth-place qualifier, but if Aston Villa secure a Champions League place by other means, the fifth performance-based Champions League place would fall to the sixth-place finisher.

In this scenario the Premier League will have six participants in next year's Champions League tournament, all qualifying for the league phase directly. The top four qualify directly every year, plus the fifth qualifier given out for performance across the UEFA competitions, .

Additionally, Aston Villa would earn a sixth UCL place, having won the Europa League but failing to qualify directly through league finish.

If Aston Villa finish fourth in the Premier League

The Premier League ramifications for Aston Villa winning the Europa League but also qualifying through a top-four league finish are quite simple.

In this outcome, the Premier League would only have five Champions League participants. If one of these two European winners (Champions League or Europa League) have already qualified via table position in their respective domestic league, the extra slot does not fall to another team in their association. Thus, the Premier League would NOT earn a sixth qualifier for Aston Villa winning a European trophy and also qualifying via table position.

The ramifications throughout the rest of the Champions League are where things get complicated.

Instead of a sixth English qualifier, Aston Villa's place in the league phase falls to the reigning European club with the highest individual club coefficient that has not already qualified directly to the league phase.

Because each of the domestic champions of the top 10 highest-ranked European leagues all qualify directly for the league phase, it means the highest-ranked club qualified via league championship from outside the top 10 European leagues (currently Sporting CP from Portugal) would be upgraded to guaranteed league phase qualification. From there, the upgrades trickle all the way down qualifying until an extra team is added to the early stages of qualification that would otherwise not have been included.

The initial team is selected from outside the top 10 European leagues because all league champions from the top 10-ranked leagues already earn a spot in the league phase directly, while those below are slotted into the earlier qualifying rounds.