Chelsea have had a mixed first season under head coach Enzo Maresca, but it could be one that ends with great success.
The Blues have recovered from a shaky run of Premier League form by winning three straight matches, including over new champions Liverpool, to put themselves in a strong position for a top-five finish.
They also have one foot in the UEFA Conference League final after beating Djurgarden 4-1 in the first leg of their semifinal clash. Maresca said that winning the tournament would be “a statement to say Chelsea is back” as a major player in European football.
But winning the Conference League doesn’t just get you a trophy, it also earns you a place in the following season’s UEFA Europa League. So, what happens if Chelsea win it but also qualify for Europe through their league finish?
The Sporting News breaks down the regulations below and details what’s at stake for the Blues.
WATCH: UEFA Champions League with a FREE trial of Paramount+ in USA | A new era of UEFA Champions League in Australia, only on Stan Sport
What happens if Chelsea win the Conference League?
Simply put, if Chelsea win the UEFA Conference League, they are likely to have a choice when it comes to European football in 2025/26.
Either they can play in the Europa League, or they could enter the UEFA Champions League, assuming they qualify through their league finish.
Confused? Let us explain.
What do teams get for winning the Conference League?
The Conference League winners, along with getting a trophy and €7 million (£5.9m / $8m) in prize money, earn a qualifying spot for the following season’s Europa League. They are given a bye straight into the league phase, meaning they do not need to worry about progressing through the qualifying rounds.
Things get a little more complicated if that same team also earns a place in the Champions League or Europa League through other means, i.e. winning a domestic cup — assuming the competition grants them a European place — or through their domestic league finish.
In the event that the Conference League winners qualify for the Europa League in such a way, they create a vacant slot in the Europa League (since they can’t qualify twice). That vacancy “is filled by the club with the highest individual club coefficient of all the clubs that qualify for the main path or playoffs of the Europa League”, according to UEFA rules.
The club that fills that vacancy “must be either the domestic cup winner or the highest domestically ranked club from its association that has not already qualified for the league phase of the competition directly”.
If the Conference League winners qualify for the Champions League through their league finish, they are given the choice of playing in either next season’s Champions League or Europa League. This is likely to be the, er, dilemma facing Chelsea at the end of 2024/25.
Clearly, it’s extremely unlikely that a team would choose the Europa League over the glamour and riches of the Champions League. Assuming Chelsea choose to play in the Champions League if they qualify, this would mean the vacancy they leave in the Europa League needs filling again. In that case, we go back to the rule about the best-ranked club taking their place, as per UEFA’s guidelines.
Have Chelsea qualified for the Champions League?
We know that the top five in the Premier League this season will qualify for the 2025/26 Champions League.
With three games to go, Chelsea are fifth in the standings, so they have a top-five finish in their own hands. However, the race is incredibly close, with just four points separating Manchester City in third and Aston Villa in seventh.
Chelsea have arguably the most difficult final three games of those teams in the top-five race. They face fourth-place Newcastle United next, host Manchester United on May 16, and travel to sixth-place Nottingham Forest on the final day.
MORE: Breaking down the EPL’s race for European qualification
