Liverpool have become the fifth and final English club to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Arne Slot’s side secured fifth place in the Premier League table on the final day of the season with a 1-1 draw at home to Brentford.
They join Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa as England’s representatives in next season’s competition.
Traditionally, England is awarded four places in the Champions League. But strong performances in Uefa club competitions this season mean the nation has been given one of two Elite Performance Spots (EPS), resulting in the top five Premier League clubs qualifying.
Joining them so far are Inter Milan, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis, Paris St-Germain, Lens, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk, Slavia Prague, Club Brugge, Porto and Sporting.
Inter and Napoli have both secured a top-four finish in Serie A, with Italy’s top flight still having two places up for grabs.
Like the Premier League, Spain’s La Liga will be awarded an EPS, meaning it will also take five places in next season’s Champions League.
Real Betis have taken that EPS, joining fellow La Liga sides Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico and Villarreal in next season’s competition.
Bayern, PSV, Porto, Slavia Prague, Club Brugge and Galatasaray have already won league titles in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium and Turkey respectively, guaranteeing their places.
Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Stuttgart earned top-four finishes in the Bundesliga, while Lens and Lille qualified by finishing second and third in Ligue 1.
For winning Ukraine’s top flight, Shakhtar were due to enter in the second round of qualifying.
However, with this season’s Champions League finalists Arsenal and Paris St-Germain already guaranteed a place in next season’s competition, a replacement title holder was required.
Shakhtar were the highest-ranked domestic champions from Uefa’s club coefficient list, outside the top 10 associations, not to be confirmed for the league phase.
As a result, they take the spot initially reserved for the winner of this season’s Champions League.
Sporting have also earned a place in the league phase. They had initially only qualified for the qualifying rounds, but were moved up because of Villa winning the Europa League, having already qualified for the league phase.
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.
