Tottenham Hotspur are in pole position to be in UEFA’s new Conference League next season, but just what is it?
Spurs slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Wednesday night which leaves them sitting in sixth place, with West Ham still to play West Brom at the Hawthorns.
UEFA have launched the Europa Conference League, their third club competition that will run alongside the Champions League and Europa League.
Confused? Don’t worry, here’s everything you need to know about the Europa Conference League.
AFP
What is the Europa Conference League?
This all new competition is a way for clubs who may struggle to qualify for the other two UEFA competitions to experience European football.
With the battle for Champions League still open after Liverpool beat Manchester United recently, it’s still unknown who will finish in the top four, but as things stand the Premier League’s seventh-placed team will be playing in the Europa Conference League.
Speaking on the competition, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “The new UEFA club competition makes UEFA’s club tournaments more inclusive than ever before.
“There will be more matches for more clubs, with more associations represented in the group stages.”
Who qualifies in the Prem?
The winner of the Carabao Cup qualifies for the Conference League.
However with Manchester City winning the cup for the fourth season in a row and their UCL position sealed, the spot will be handed to the next highest-placed team who have not qualified for a European tournament.
That means the seventh placed team would qualify. As the table currently stands that would be Tottenham.
Liverpool, West Ham, Arsenal, Everton and even Leeds are also in the mix.
Similarly to the Premier League, the seventh-best teams from Spain, Italy and Germany would also qualify.
When will fixtures be?
Fixtures for the new tournament are the same as the Europa League. Games will take place on Thursdays, with kick-offs at 5.45pm and 8pm UK time.
This will begin in the 2021/22 season.
How does it work?
There is a First Qualifying Round, Second Qualifying Round, Third Qualifying Round and then a Play-Off Round before the Group Stage.
The team that qualifies from the Premier League will enter at the Play-Off Round with the two legs on August 19 and August 26.
The eight group winners will go through to the last 16. Knockout round play-offs will then be played before the round of 16 between the eight group runners-up and the third placed teams of the Europa League groups.
The Europa Conference League final will be played on May 25 in Tirana, Albania.
What’s the prize?
The winner of the Conference League will earn themselves a place into the group stages of next season’s Europa League, unless they have qualified for the UCL.
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