|rowspan="5"|[[UEFA Champions League]] group stage
|rowspan="6"|[[UEFA Champions League]] group stage
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|Premier League 1st
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|From the 2018–19 season, the UEFA Champions League Winner will gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stages.<ref>{{cite web|title=Evolution of UEFA club competitions from 2018|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398899.html?iv=true|accessdate=28 August 2018}}</ref>
|From the 2018–19 season, the UEFA Champions League Winner will gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stages.<ref>{{cite web|title=Evolution of UEFA club competitions from 2018|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398899.html?iv=true|accessdate=28 August 2018}}</ref>
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|rowspan="1"|UEFA Champions League play-off round for non-champions
|UEFA Europa League Winners
|UEFA Europa League Winners
|Prior to the 2015-16 season, there was a limit of four clubs from each association entering the Champions League. If a club outside of England's top four won the Champions League, the 4th placed club would be demoted to the Europa League in the following season. This occurred in the 2011–12 season when [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] won the Champions League but only finished sixth in the Premier League. They replaced [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] in the Champions League, who were demoted to the Europa League as the final English representative in the Champions League.
|Prior to the 2015-16 season, there was a limit of four clubs from each association entering the Champions League. If a club outside of England's top four won the Champions League, the 4th placed club would be demoted to the Europa League in the following season. This occurred in the 2011–12 season when [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] won the Champions League but only finished sixth in the Premier League. They replaced [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] in the Champions League, who were demoted to the Europa League as the final English representative in the Champions League.
The European Cup began in 1955–56, but there was no English representative during that inaugural season as reigning champions Chelsea had been persuaded to withdraw by The Football League. The first English side to participate in the following edition was Manchester United, who were also the first English winners in 1968, ten years after their first attempt to win the cup had effectively ended when eight of their players died in the Munich air disaster when flying home from Belgrade after qualifying for the 1957–58 semi-final. Tottenham Hotspur won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963.
Prior to that, England had been pioneers in establishing international competitions, with the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, which was won by West Auckland when they defeated Italian side Juventus in 1909. English teams have participated in UEFA competitions every year save for the years between 1985–1990, when in the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster, all English clubs were banned from Europe by UEFA; Liverpool, who had been playing at the Heysel Stadium against Juventus, were banned for six years, until 1991. Several teams have managed to play in Europe while being outside the top flight, including more recently Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic.
Who qualifies for UEFA competitions
From the 2015–16 season, the various permutations allow for a maximum of five English clubs to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and five for the UEFA Europa League.[1] From the 2018-19 season, the top four clubs in Europe's four highest ranked leagues will qualify directly to the group stages.[2] These leagues are currently England, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The minimum quota is for four English clubs to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and three for the UEFA Europa League.
From the 2018–19 season, the UEFA Champions League Winner will gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stages.[3]
UEFA Europa League Winners
Prior to the 2015-16 season, there was a limit of four clubs from each association entering the Champions League. If a club outside of England's top four won the Champions League, the 4th placed club would be demoted to the Europa League in the following season. This occurred in the 2011–12 season when Chelsea won the Champions League but only finished sixth in the Premier League. They replaced Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, who were demoted to the Europa League as the final English representative in the Champions League.
From the 2018–19 season the UEFA Europa League winners will gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stages.[4]
From the 2018–19 season, if English clubs win both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and neither finish the Premier League in a position that qualifies them for the UEFA Champions League, the following will happen:
The club that won the UEFA Champions League will go straight into the group stage
The UEFA Europa League winners will go into the UEFA Champions League group stage
The club that finished fourth in the Premier League will transfer into the UEFA Europa League
If the FA Cup winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League via the domestic championship, by Regulation 3.04,[6] the highest ranking non-qualified league club qualifies, taking the lowest Europa League spot (the League Cup spot – the League Cup inherits the League spot, and the League inherits the FA Cup spot).
UEFA Europa League play-off round
Club finishing fifth in the Premier League
If the fifth-placed club has already qualified for Europe through the FA Cup, then the next-highest Premier League finishers get this place
UEFA Europa League third qualifying round
League Cup winners
If the League Cup winners have already qualified for Europe by a high Premier League finish, then the next highest-finishing Premier League club gets this place
UEFA Europa League first qualifying round
Premier League club with the best UEFA Fair Play ranking that has not already qualified for Europe, but only if England has one of the top three positions and has a fair play score of above eight.
As of 2015, Fair Play no longer earns this Europa League spot. Instead, such teams will be awarded in cash prizes, with the monies to be spent on "fair play or respect themed projects".[7]
Multiple European competition winners from England
^England had no coefficient points as a resulted of the Heysel ban, so only one club was granted entry. Under normal circumstances, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest would also have entered.
^England had only one year of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only one club was granted entry. Under normal circumstances, Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday would also have entered.
^England had only two years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only two clubs were granted entry. Under normal circumstances, Arsenal and Manchester City F.C. would also have entered.
^England had only three years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only two clubs were granted entry. Under normal circumstances, Blackburn Rovers and Queens Park Rangers F.C. would also have entered.
^England had only four years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only three clubs were granted entry. Under normal circumstances,
Leeds United would also have entered.
Between the 1992–93 and 2012–13 seasons, Premier League clubs had won the UEFA Champions League four times (as well as supplying five of the runners-up), behind Spain's La Liga with six wins, and Italy's Serie A with five wins, and ahead of, among others, Germany's Bundesliga with three wins (see table here). The FIFA Club World Cup (or the FIFA Club World Championship, as it was originally called) has been won by Premier league clubs once (Manchester United in 2008),[8] and they have also been runners-up twice,[9][10] behind Brazil's Série A with four wins,[9][10][11][12] and Spain's La Liga[13][14] and Italy's Serie A[15][16] with two wins each (see table here).
Note that some Premier League clubs are not based in England. Because they are members of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the question of which country clubs like Cardiff City and Swansea City should represent in European competitions has caused long-running discussions in UEFA. Despite being a member of the FAW, Swansea took up one of England's three available places in the UEFA Europa League in 2013–14, thanks to winning the League Cup in 2012–13. The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt until UEFA clarified the matter in March 2012.[17]
Note: The European Cup began in 1955–56 (abbreviated here to 1956) and was renamed the UEFA Champions League in 1992–93 (abbreviated here to 1993). The Premier League also began in 1992–93, so teams from the Premier League were playing in Europe in that season (abbreviated here to 1993), even though they had actually qualified for Europe through the old English First Division the previous season.
English finalists of European Cup and UEFA Champions League
This table combines the English totals before and during the Premier League era. It shows that Liverpool lead, with five wins. Manchester United won the unofficial club world championship, the Intercontinental Cup, in 1999, and the official FIFA Club World Cup in 2008.[8]
Premier League rise to European dominance and subsequent decline
For details, see entries for the 1992-93 season (abbreviated here as 1993) and subsequent seasons in this table.
Premier League teams gradually improved their performance in the Champions League until a peak centred on the 2008 season, followed by a significant decline thereafter. They had no semi-finalists for the first four seasons (1993 to 1996). They then had four semi-finalists (Manchester United in 1997, 1999, and 2002, and Leeds United in 2001) over the next seven seasons (1997 to 2003), one of whom went on to become champions (Manchester United in 1999). They then had four semi-finalists (Chelsea in 2004 and 2005, Liverpool in 2005, and Arsenal in 2006) in the next three seasons (2004 to 2006), with Arsenal going on to be runners-up in 2006 and Liverpool winning in 2005.
They then peaked with nine semi-finalists (Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool in both 2007 and 2008, and Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in 2009) in the next three seasons (2007 to 2009), with Liverpool (2007), Chelsea (2008), and Manchester United (2009) going on to be runners-up, and Manchester United going on to win an all-English final against Chelsea in 2008, a year in which none of the four English teams were eliminated by anybody except another English team. Around this time, then-UEFA president Michel Platini began to make statements which resulted in a widespread perception that he was anti-English,[18] which some attributed to his alleged fear of English domination in European club competition.[19][20]
However, this dominance did not produce a corresponding number of titles. At its most dominant, from 2007 to 2009, the Premier League had 75% (9 out of 12) of the semi-finalists, 67% (4 out of 6) of the finalists, 100% (3 out of 3) of the runners-up, but only 33% (1 out of 3) of the winners (Manchester United in 2008), with the other two titles going to Milan in 2007 and Barcelona in 2009. And English dominance did not last, with the Premier League managing only two semi-finalists (Manchester United in 2011, and Chelsea in 2012) over the next four seasons (2010 to 2013), although Manchester United went on to be runners-up in 2011, and Chelsea won in 2012. In 2013, no Premier League side reached the last eight for the first time since 1996 (back in a time when England were only entitled to one Champions League place compared to four today), only two (Manchester United and Arsenal) made it to the last 16, and Chelsea became the first defending champions to fail to make it past the group stage of the Champions League,[21] although by finishing third in their group they did manage to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, which they went on to win.
If the decline were to get worse for long enough, it could in theory eventually deprive the Premier League of its current entitlement to have four teams in the Champions League each year, which it has had since 2005, but the current coefficients table gives little cause for concern from an English perspective, as all England's relevant coefficients are currently ahead of fourth-placed Italy's.
The FIFA Club World Cup (or the FIFA Club World Championship, as it was originally called) has been won by Premier league clubs once (Manchester United in 2008),[8] and they have also been runners-up twice,[9][10] behind Spain's La Liga[13][14] with six wins, Brazil's Série A with four wins,[9][10][11][12] and Italy's Serie A[15][16] with two wins.
Premier League Club World Cup finalists
Manchester United lead this table, just as they lead the equivalent table for English Champions League finalists in the Premier League era. Manchester United defeated LDU Quito of Ecuador 1–0 in Yokohama, Japan, in 2008. Liverpool lost to São Paulo of Brazil 1–0 in the same stadium in 2005. Chelsea lost to Corinthians of Brazil 1–0 in the same stadium in 2012. Manchester United also took part in the first FIFA Club World Championship in 2000, but were eliminated at the group stage after finishing third in their group.[22][23]
Before being supplanted by the FIFA Club World Cup, the now defunct Intercontinental Cup served as an de facto annual world club championship contested by the European South American club champions. Manchester United won it in 1999, the only time a Premier League club took part in the cup. This was a marked improvement on the performance of English teams before the Premier League era, when English clubs contested the cup on five occasions (1968, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984), losing each time, and allowing South America to finish with 22 wins, one ahead of Europe's 21 (see table here).
Additionally, English clubs have initially qualified for the Intercontinental Cup but withdrew from participation, namely Liverpool in 1977 and Nottingham Forest in 1979. Both berths were eventually taken by the respective European Cup losing finalists. Liverpool also qualified for the 1978 edition but they and opponents Boca Juniors declined to play each other, making it a no contest.
This 67% success rate compares favourably with the all-time European average of 53.6% success - having participated in 57, and won 31 (having won 21 out of 43 Intercontinental Cups - see table here, and 10 out of 14 FIFA Club World Cups - see table here). It also compares favourably with the European average in the Premier League era (1993 onwards) of 69.2% success - having participated in 26 (12 Intercontinental Cups from 1993 to 2004 - full details here, 14 FIFA Club World Cups - full details here), and won 18 (8 Intercontinental Cups in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 10 FIFA Club World Cups in 2007,[15]2008,[8]2009,[13]2010,[16]2011,[14]2013[24]).
2014[25]).
2015[26]). 2016,[27]2017).
The above data means that when one includes Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, English clubs have success rates of 40% (2 out of 5) in the Premier League era, 0% (0 out of 5) before the Premier League era, and 20% (2 out of 10) overall.
^"Chelsea suffers Champions League KO". CNN. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-10. Chelsea became the first defending champion to crash out at the Group Stage of the Champions League -- despite thrashing Danish side Nordsjaelland 6-1 at Stamford Bridge.{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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