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There are two days left until the end of the men’s Serie A football season and there is still the possibility that the Italian championship will qualify six teams for the next Champions League, the main European club competition, and nine in total in the European cups (also considering the Europa League and the Conference League, the second and third most important European cups). It would be an unprecedented situation, because usually only four Italian teams qualify for the Champions League, plus two for the Europa League and one for the Conference League. It has to do with various factors: with the ranking of the teams, with the new competition formula that will start from next season, with Atalanta and also with Benfica, which is a Portuguese team but has something to do with it all the same (we’ll get there ).
The new rules
A month ago now, meanwhile, Serie A had the certainty of being able to qualify one more team (therefore five instead of four) for the next Champions League. In fact, from next year the competition will change and 32 UEFA teams will no longer participate, but 36. Two of the four additional teams will come from the leagues with the best ranking, i.e. whose teams have obtained the best results in European competitions: this year they are the Italian one and the German one, but it may change from year to year based on the results. The top five in this Serie A, therefore, will certainly play in the Champions League next year.
Furthermore, by regulation, one of the places in the Champions League is reserved for the team that wins the Europa League the previous year. This year Atalanta reached the final: they will play against the Germans Bayer Leverkusen on May 22nd. Atalanta is currently fifth in Serie A, 3 points ahead of Roma and 4 over Lazio (and one game less, the one against Fiorentina which was postponed due to Joe Barone’s illness and will only be recovered after the last day, because there were no other dates available).
If Atalanta finishes fifth
Atalanta, therefore, would currently be qualified for the Champions League, because this year Serie A is entitled to an extra place, which it will give to the fifth-placed team. If they were overtaken by Roma or Lazio, but won the Europa League, at that point the top five of the championship would go (Inter, Milan, Bologna, Juventus, Roma/Lazio) and also Atalanta, therefore six teams. If, however, Atalanta remained fifth and won the Europa League, the extra place would go to the sixth-qualified team (Roma or Lazio), and Italy would still have six teams in the Champions League.
To hope to go to the Champions League, therefore, Roma and Lazio will have to support Atalanta in the Europa League, but not in the championship (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
If Atalanta finishes in fourth place and above
This would not happen, however, if Atalanta were to win the Europa League and finish above fifth place, therefore fourth or third, which are the two positions it can still reach. In that case, in fact, even the sixth qualified team would not go to the Champions League. The reason is that Serie A formally qualifies the top four in the Champions League for the next season and then, thanks to the ranking, has the right to bring an additional fifth team.
The new (and actually a bit convoluted) UEFA regulations for the European cups from 2024 to 2027 provide that if the winning team of the Europa League qualifies for the Champions League also through placing in the championship, and therefore in Italy by arriving among the top four, then this frees up a place for direct qualification in the Champions League for a team from another European championship that had instead only qualified for the Champions League preliminaries (a kind of qualifying round, which Italian teams do not have to do ), chosen by taking the one with the best UEFA coefficient (there is also a ranking for the individual teams, always based on results). In this case it would be Benfica, already certain of second place in the Portuguese championship (second place in Portugal only entitles you to the Champions League preliminaries).
Nine Italian teams in Europe if
If Italy were to qualify six teams in the Champions League, however, at that point they could only qualify one in the Europa League (the seventh) and one in the Conference League (the eighth). However, there is a possibility that next year as many as nine Italian teams will play in Europe, and it starts with the Conference League final which Fiorentina will play against the Greeks Olympiakos on 29 May: whoever wins, in fact, has the right to a place in the next Europa League.
If Fiorentina were to win the Conference League, they would therefore qualify for the Europa League regardless of their league position. Fiorentina is currently eighth: if they finished ninth and won the Conference League, and at the same time Atalanta won the Europa League without finishing in the top four, at that point the top six classified would go to the Champions League, the top six would go to the Europa League seventh in the standings and Fiorentina (who in this scenario came from ninth place down, but won the Conference League) and eighth in the Conference League. Nine teams in total. Even if Atalanta lost the Europa League final, but Fiorentina won the Conference League and finished outside the top eight in the league, Italy would have nine teams in Europe: but in this case there would be five in the Champions League, three in the Europa League and one in Conference (and not six, two, one).
To recap:
– If Fiorentina and Atalanta lose both European finals, the top five go to the Champions League, the sixth and seventh to the Europa League and the eighth to the Conference League, as per the Serie A standings.
– If Fiorentina loses the Conference League final, Atalanta wins the Europa League final and does not reach the top four, the top six go to the Champions League (five + Atalanta), seventh to the Europa League and seventh to the Conference League octave.
– If Fiorentina loses the final, Atalanta wins it and finishes in the top four, the top five go to the Champions League, sixth and seventh to the Europa League, eighth to the Conference League.
– If Fiorentina wins the final and finishes in the top eight and Atalanta loses, the top five go to the Champions League, Fiorentina and two other teams go to the Europa League (sixth and seventh, if Fiorentina finishes eighth) and no Italian team in the Conference League.
– If Fiorentina wins the final and does not reach the top eight, and Atalanta loses, the top five go to the Champions League, sixth, seventh and Fiorentina go to the Europa League, and eighth to the Conference League.
– If Fiorentina wins the Conference League and does not reach the top eight, and Atalanta wins the Europa League and does not reach the top four, the top six go to the Champions League, the seventh-placed team and Fiorentina go to the Europa League , the eighth in the Conference League.
2024-05-17 15:23:34
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