The 2025-26 Premier League season ended with Arsenal crowned champions for the first time since the 2003-04 Invincibles, and at least eight clubs confirmed for European competition next season. The race for those places went to the final day for three of them, producing one of the more dramatic conclusions for those who both watch and bet on sports in recent years.
Here is every Premier League club heading to Europe in 2026-27, how they got there, and what it means for each of them.
Champions League
Arsenal
Arsenal are Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, ending a wait that stretched back to the 2003-04 Invincibles under Arsene Wenger. Mikel Arteta’s side finished on 85 points with a goal difference of +44, and their title was confirmed when Manchester City drew with Bournemouth on the penultimate gameweek. They also played a close game in this season’s Champions League final, continuing a European run that has added another dimension to what has been a historic season at the Emirates Stadium.
Manchester City
City came closer to the title than the final points gap suggests. There was a point late in the season when they drew level with Arsenal at the top of the table, only to find they could not maintain the momentum needed to push ahead of a side that had been the division’s most consistent team all year. Second place still represents a strong return, and City’s presence in the Champions League has become so routine that the last time they were absent from it was the 2010-11 season, before Guardiola’s era reshaped what the club is.
Manchester United (3rd, 71 points)
United’s season is one of the more remarkable turnarounds in the division. Ruben Amorim was sacked after a deeply troubled start, with Michael Carrick appointed to steady a club that had lost its direction. What followed was a genuine revival. Carrick’s United reclaimed their identity, and a 3-2 win over Liverpool in May confirmed a Champions League place for the first time since 2023-24. It is the kind of transformation that few expected when Amorim was shown the door.
Aston Villa (4th, 65 points)
Villa secured a Champions League return via fourth place, though their season had already been defined by winning the Europa League, beating Freiburg 3-0 in the final to end a 44-year wait for major European silverware. Their fourth-place finish guaranteed the Champions League spot regardless of the cup run, which meant the additional berth earned through the Europa League victory passed to another club rather than down the Premier League table. Villa were also in the Champions League last season for the first time since the competition was rebranded from the European Cup in 1992.
Liverpool (5th, 60 points)
By any measure, Liverpool’s title defence has been one of the worst in recent Premier League history. Twelve months after winning the league under Arne Slot, they finish fifth with 60 points, a drop of 22 points from last season’s total. Something no bet calculator could predict. They benefit from England’s strong UEFA coefficient, which earned the Premier League an additional Champions League berth, allowing fifth place to qualify. Without that, Liverpool would have been heading to the Europa League. It remains a season the club will want to move on from quickly.
Europa League
Bournemouth (6th, 57 points)
Bournemouth’s sixth-place finish is the best in the club’s history and earns them a first-ever European campaign. Their 14-game unbeaten run was the longest in the division this season, and their draw with City on the penultimate weekend played a direct role in deciding the title. Andoni Iraola’s side were not confirmed in Europe until the final day, but they had been one of the division’s most consistent performers across the season. Losing Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in January did nothing to derail them.
Sunderland (7th, 54 points)
Sunderland’s story is the season’s most unlikely. Newly promoted from the Championship, Regis Le Bris’s side not only avoided the relegation fight that most expected them to be embroiled in, but beat Chelsea on the final day to sneak into seventh and qualify for Europe for the first time in 52 years. Their previous continental campaign came in 1973. That a newly promoted side ends the season in European football speaks to the consistency and organisation Le Bris has built since arriving at the Stadium of Light.
Crystal Palace’s Europa League place has nothing to do with their league position. They finished 15th in the league this season, but managed to win the first major European trophy in the club’s history. As competition winners, they earn automatic entry into the Europa League, an additional berth that sits outside the Premier League’s allocated places. For a club that had never previously competed in European football, it is a result that will take some time to fully appreciate.
Conference League
Brighton and Hove Albion (8th, 53 points)
Brighton’s place in Europe was confirmed in the most nervy of circumstances. A 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United on the final day left their fate in other teams’ hands, but Chelsea’s loss at Sunderland on the same afternoon ensured they held on. It was a tense finish for a club that had spent much of the season looking comfortable in the top half. Fabian Hurzeler has continued building a side with real technical quality, and the Conference League will be their first taste of European football.
