Arsenal and Manchester City are among seven teams to have already qualified for the 2026-27 Champions League.
Regardless of their results between now and the end of the season, both clubs have already gained enough points to finish no lower than fifth in England‘s top flight.
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Traditionally, England are awarded four places in the Champions League. However, due to performance of English clubs in Uefa club competitions this season, they will be awarded one of two Elite Performance Spots (EPS) for next season, meaning the top five qualify for the Champions League.
Joining Arsenal and City so far are Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven.
Inter have secured a top-four finish in Serie A, with Barcelona and Real Madrid doing the same in La Liga.
Bayern and PSV have already won the Bundesliga and Eredivisie titles respectively, guaranteeing their places.
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A total of 36 teams will compete in the league phase of the Champions League, 29 of which will be decided before the end of this season.
The other seven all come from qualification, taking place in the early months of the 2026-27 campaign.
How many spots are given to each nation?
Arsenal and Manchester City, currently in the Premier League’s top two spots, will feature in next season’s Champions League [Getty Images]
The first two places into next season’s Champions League’s league phase go to the winners of this season’s Champions League and Europa League.
Following that, to determine how many places each nation gets, Uefa uses their association rankings from the five-year period ending two seasons prior to that campaign.
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For example, for the 2026-27 season, places are used based on Uefa’s rankings between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 seasons.
With England, Italy, Spain and Germany ranked first to fourth respectively, the top four teams in their leagues qualify straight to the league path.
France, ranked in fifth, see the top three teams in Ligue 1 directly qualify. Fourth place will also earn a spot in the third qualifying round of the competition.
Netherlands are ranked sixth and are awarded spots for the top two Eredivisie sides, as well as third place entering the third qualifying round.
Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic and Turkey, ranked seventh to 10th in order, are given two places each. The league winners from all four countries get a spot in the league phase. The league runners-up in Portugal, Belgium and Czech Republic all get a place in the third qualifying round, while Turkey are given an extra team in the second qualifying round.
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Norway, Greece, Austria and Scotland are the nations ranked 11th to 14th. The winners of each league all get a place in the play-off qualifying round, effectively the fourth and final round of qualifying. All four countries also get a second place in the second qualifying round.
Poland, ranked 15th, will see their top two clubs enter in the second qualifying round. All other nations only get one team each, all of which will enter in either of the first two rounds of qualifying.
In qualifying, seven spots are available. Teams are split into the ‘champions path’ and the ‘league path’.
Champions path clubs, league winners from nations outside the top 10 during the qualifying period, will compete for one of five spots.
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The other two spots go to league path clubs, a separate qualifying path for clubs from nations given multiple qualifying spots without winning their domestic league.
The other EPS spot is yet to be decided, but only Germany, Spain and Portugal can mathematically qualify for it.
While not officially guaranteed, there is a likely scenario in which the winners of this season’s Champions League will have already qualified for next season’s competition via their domestic competition.
In that instance, Uefa will re-award that spot to the league winner that has yet to directly qualify for the Champions League with the highest club coefficient ranking over a five-year period ending this season.
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Olympiakos are the highest-ranked club in the race for the title-holder replacement spot but are five points shy of Greek Super League leaders AEK Athens.
Second on the list is Rangers, meaning if they win the Scottish Premiership and Olympiakos do not overturn their current deficit in their domestic league, Rangers would qualify straight into next season’s league phase.
Full list of teams in the 2026-27 Champions League
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Manchester City (Premier League)
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Bayern Munich (Bundesliga winners)
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PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie winners)
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Champions League winner (Titleholder replacement spot if required)
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Premier League fifth (EPS)
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Belgian Pro League winners
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Czech First League winners
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (Champions Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (Champions Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (Champions Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (Champions Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (Champions Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (League Path)
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Winner of play-off qualifying round tie (League Path)
This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.
