What happens to the Premier League’s Conference League spot after Crystal Palace won the FA Cup?

Not only did Crystal Palace lift their first-ever major trophy by winning the FA Cup, but they booked a spot in Europe too.

The Eagles held on to beat Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley on Saturday to end their 120-year major title drought.

But part of their celebration will also be thinking about the future, as they now know they will be playing on the continent.

By winning the FA Cup, teams qualify automatically for the Europa League league phase, and therefore Palace have done so.

It also has an impact on other Premier League teams that are vying for Europe though, so here’s a breakdown…

Premier League European permutations

Crystal Palace have claimed a spot in the Europa League.

But because of that victory at Wembley, it has reduced the chance of eighth place in the Premier League qualifying for Europe.

Sixth place in the top-flight will take the second spot that English teams have in UEFA‘s second-tier competition, joining Palace.

As things stand, ironically, that would be Man City.

If City had won the FA Cup over Palace, then eighth would have been enough to book a spot in the Europa Conference League.

It would have meant that if Pep Guardiola‘s side finished in the top six, the team in seventh would have been promoted to the Europa League, and then eighth up to the Conference League.

But that’s not how things have panned out and it’s now most likely that seventh will be the place to qualify for the European third-tier.

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That’s because Palace are not able to finish in the Premier League’s qualifying places, so the European spots won’t be passed down.

The only possible way for eighth in the Premier League to now get European football will be down to Chelsea.

If the Blues win the Conference League and then finish sixth or seventh in the top-flight, they will be in the Europa League.

That passes the Conference League spot down to eighth.

But with Enzo Maresca‘s side sitting fourth in the Premier League with one game to go, it’s looking unlikely they’ll drop below fifth.

That is a major blow to Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth, who are all fighting for a place to play on the continent.

For those three teams, who all can’t finish any higher than eighth, it’s now looking like they won’t be able to qualify.

The Premier League do remain in with a chance of getting ten teams playing in Europe next season.

Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa are in the spot for a Champions League place as things stand.

Then, City and Crystal Palace will be in the Europa League, with Nottingham Forest currently set for the Conference League.

That’s a total of eight, and that will become nine after one of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur win the Europa League.

The tenth spot will become available should the scenario of Chelsea winning the Conference League and coming sixth/seventh happen.

So, the season may be about to end, but there’s still plenty to be decided when it comes to the European places.

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