UEFA has announced major changes to the Europa Conference League, just a couple of seasons after the competition's inauguration.
From the start of the 2024/25 season, 36 teams will compete in Europe's third club competition, up from the current 32. The biggest change, though, will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase that includes all participating teams.
Each team will play six matches, half at home and half away, with all six taking place over a ten-week period.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while teams finishing 9th to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
Teams are then seeded, dependent on their placing within the overall league phase, creating two brackets where the top two teams are placed on opposite sides. There is set to be no draws for the knockout stages.
Currently, the winners of the League Cup qualify for the Europa Conference League from England. However, if the winners are set to compete in either the Champions League of Europa League, then the spot is given to either the sixth or seventh-placed team in the Premier League, depending on where the FA Cup winners finish.
That is set to continue from 2024/25, though there are plenty more permutations to consider. What is confirmed, though, is that only one team from England will play in the Europa Conference League when the new format is implemented.
In theory, in some years the Premier League could end up with a total of seven teams in the Champions League due to the coefficient spot awarded on performance and the winners of Europe’s elite club competition and the Europa League (should those clubs not otherwise qualify automatically.)
With two English teams guaranteed in the Europa League, a third could still join if they win the Europa Conference League. Therefore, there is potential, albeit extremely slim, that an 11th side in the Premier League could make it into the third European competition, dependent on all of the prior permutations beforehand.
If introduced ahead of the 2022/23 season, eight-placed Leicester City would have qualified for the Europa Conference League.
