Generally speaking there are three UEFA Europa League places given to English clubs who fulfil the following criteria: winning the FA Cup, winning the Capital One Cup and finishing fifth in the Barclays Premier League.
However, if the Capital One Cup winners finish in the top four, their UEFA Europa League place goes to the next-highest ranked team in the Barclays Premier League (nominally the sixth-placed team).
If the FA Cup winners finish in the top four, their UEFA Europa League place goes to the runners-up. However, if the FA Cup winners finish outside the top four, their UEFA Europa League place goes to the next-highest ranked team in the Barclays Premier League (nominally the seventh-placed team).
How they stand
This season, as Manchester City won the Capital One Cup and are likely to finish in the top four, their place will go to the club who finish sixth in the Barclays Premier League table.
The FA Cup adds another layer of possibilities. If Arsenal beat Hull City in the 17 May final and finish fourth they will qualify for the UEFA Champions League and Steve Bruce’s side will enter the UEFA Europa League as runners-up. However, if the Gunners win the FA Cup and finish outside of the top four they will enter the group stage of the UEFA Europa League as FA Cup winners and an extra place will go to the club who finish seventh in the Barclays Premier League.
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2013-14/apr/europa-league-qualifying-places-explained-140414.html
Personally I'd rather we either finished 5th and went straight into the group stages or missed out altogether. With the likelihood being that Arsenal will win the FA Cup and finish fourth we need to finish 7th to miss out. We're not going to overtake Everton now and thanks to our fantastic goal difference we're likely to finish behind United.
But you should want Europe
The first round of qualifiers for the Europa start on the 2nd of July, a little over 2 weeks after the World Cup finishes. Even assuming we get LvG in he'll want a holiday, and Levy will still be haggling over Bony's agent's fee.
What say you?
Europa League places explained
posted on 16/4/14
Just concentrate on finishing as high as we can and see what happens. If we finish in it, so be it...we can play our B team in the group stages and then after begin to take it seriously. If we finish without out it then we can fully concentrate on the league. It's not really an issue.
posted on 16/4/14
Agree with what Spurtle has said.
What i don't undertand is people not wanting us to be in Europe in the hope that we may make 4th place next season.
If we do make the Champions League, guess what....we have European football again and will have to finish fourth again to retain it. So we need to get used to playing the extra games now and manage our
squad correctly at all times - something we are not yet able to do.
posted on 16/4/14
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/4/14
No LAA should they finish 5th then as we would get a EL spot
posted on 16/4/14
If we do make the Champions League, guess what....we have European football again and will have to finish fourth again to retain it. So we need to get used to playing the extra games now and manage our
squad correctly at all times - something we are not yet able to do.
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That's fair enough if we get into the group stages but qualifiers starting on the 2nd of July are the likely outcome if we finish 6th.. the players will be knackered by Christmas off the back of a World Cup.
Either that or we have to make up 7 points on Everton to secure 4th place..
The format's broken, there's no doubt about it - CL teams dropping in mean we're extremely unlikely to win the thing. Say we get through the qualifiers playing the kids we'll struggle in the league due to tiredness and injuries at the tail end of the season.
For me it's 5th place or 7th assuming Arsenal win the cup.
posted on 16/4/14
How does the fair play league fall into that? Or doesnt it?
posted on 16/4/14
That's fair enough if we get into the group stages but qualifiers starting on the 2nd of July are the likely outcome if we finish 6th.. the players will be knackered by Christmas off the back of a World Cup.
Either that or we have to make up 7 points on Everton to secure 4th place..
The format's broken, there's no doubt about it - CL teams dropping in mean we're extremely unlikely to win the thing. Say we get through the qualifiers playing the kids we'll struggle in the league due to tiredness and injuries at the tail end of the season.
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Agree that the format is rubbish but it is what it is. It may give our new manager (providing we don't stick with Sherwood) a chance to play and look at some of the players on the fringes of the first team etc and from that point of view maybe very useful for the team going forward.
Its true, that the world cup will take its toll on some players but then that will apply, an extent to all of the the Premiership clubs in Europe this year. At least our international players will be out of the competition pretty quickly, barring maybe Paulinho!
posted on 16/4/14
How does the fair play league fall into that? Or doesnt it?
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I don't think England will get an extra place - only the top 3 leagues in Europe qualify and we've been naughty
Fair enough Dartspur, everyone will have the WC hangover. What's bothering me though is that either we play the fringes - in which case we'll struggle to get out of the group. Or we'll take it seriously and risk injury/fatigue to our best XI.
I suspect Tim will take care of us finishing outside the top 6 anyway.
posted on 20/4/14
ACE
Assuming everything goes as expected and Arsenal qualify for the CL and win the FA cup Hull will go into the qualifiers and 6th place go into the group stages.. it's all a bit complicated but I think that's right
posted on 20/4/14
Wrong thread