Germany has beaten the English Premier League to a bonus fifth Champions League place in next season's revamped and expanded competition. (More Football News)
Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in their semi final first leg💝 on Wednesda🔜y confirmed Germany would join Italy in being granted an extra berth.
It had largely been assumed England would secure a bonus spot, given its recent success in Europe, including having Champions League winners in three of the last five seasons.
But Dortmund's win m♍eans Germany can't be caught in UEFA's ranking system by England, which has only Aston Villa still ♌playing.
The fifth spots were base💛d on performanc🐓es from each country this season in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
It means three-time European Cup winner Manchester United will miss out on next season's Champion🌠s League.
Villa and Tottenham — competing for fourth place 🧔in the Premier League — 🔥also know there will be no back door entry to the biggest stage in Europe.
Villa, England's only remaining team in Europe, has♛ advanced to the semifinals of the Conference League. But even if Villa goes on to win the third-tier competition, it cannot amass e🍃nough points for England to overtake Germany, which still has two teams in the Champions League and one in the Europa League.
UEFA's ranking system gives points for each game a team wins or draws in European competition, with bonuses attached to advancing to diff𒅌erent stages.
Since 2005, England would have qualified for a fifth place in the Champions League 🍎in 14 of 19 seasons. And despite having finalists in five of the past six editions, English teams' disappointing performances this season have wrecked their chances of an extra place.
Man United and Newcastle failed to advance from the group stage, and Manchester City's quarterfinal loss to Real Madrid was the deꦯfending champion's earliest exit from the competition i🏅n four years.
In the Europa League, Liverpool was surprisingly eliminated by Atalanta in the quarterfinals.
In contrast, Germꦰ♑an teams have excelled. Bayern Munich and Dortmund have reached the semifinals of the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen is into the last four of the Europa League.
Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga,ꦇ guaranteed a place in next 𓆏season's Champions League by beating PSG.
Roma is currently fifth in Italy.
The Champions League is expanding from 32 to 🍃36 teams next season to allow for a new league phase that will replace the existing group stage.
Via a seeding system, teams will be drawn t🔥o play against eight opponents home and away in one league format.
The top eight teams will advance to the round of 16. Teams that finish from nint♏h to 24th will face a t🥂wo-leg playoff in order to advance.
