- Newcastle United hopes of Champions League football suffer serious blow
- Eddie Howe can still achieve European football
- Where Magpies must finish for Europa League and Conference League
Newcastle United returned from the international break with one clear target in mind – achieving European football next season.
The Magpies were unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League by Barcelona last month and not playing on the continent next season could have serious financial ramifications.
A 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park is another huge setback as Eddie Howe tries to hoist his team up the league. However, there is still hope for Newcastle United.
How Newcastle United can qualify for the Champions League
UEFA confirmed this week that the Premier League would be handed an extra qualification spot for the Champions League next season thanks to the progress of sides in the top flight this term.
All of Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle United made it into the last 16 of the Champions League. Meanwhile, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest reached the same stage of the Europa League, as too did Crystal Palace in the Europa Conference League.
UEFA said: “England have now confirmed their place in the top two of the 2025/26 association club coefficients and have earned one of the European Performance Spots.
“Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy have the next highest coefficients and one of them will take the second European Performance Spot.”
That means that fifth place in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League, just as the Magpies did last season.
It is possible that a top seven finish would be enough for Howe to secure Champions League football, albeit an extremely unlikely one. If Aston Villa win the Europa League and drop to fifth, then sixth place in the division would qualify. The same applies for Liverpool winning the Champions League and placing fifth.
If Liverpool and Aston Villa finish fifth or sixth and win the Champions League and Europa League respectively, then seventh place would get Champions League football.
Europa League and Europa Conference League
Currently, the top five in the Premier League go into the Champions League with sixth place entering the Europa League and seventh place the Europa Conference League.
The FA cup could adjust that. If Manchester City win the trophy, then seventh place would be upgraded to a Europa League spot and eighth place would take Conference League football.
If Chelsea win the FA Cup and finish in the top seven, then the same would happen with the Conference League spot going to eighth place. If Southampton or Leeds United lift the cup, then it remains as is with no European pathway for eighth place.
In other news, 5 Newcastle United stars set to quit club alongside Kieran Trippier.
