UEFA’s Champions League Changes Benefit The “Big Six”… And Newcastle United

UEFA have once again changed their plans for the Champions League.

From the 2024-25 season, there will still be four extra teams compared to the current format, but the way those extra places are allocated has been slightly tweaked.

The controversial plan to award two spots to the teams with the best UEFA coefficient has been dropped. Those two spots will instead go to the fifth-place team from the two best leagues in UEFA — most likely La Liga and the Premier League.

That change still benefits the so-called “big six” of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. But it also means that the Champions League is a little bit more open to other Premier League sides, especially compared to the previous proposal.

Instead of a “race for fourth”, there will be a “race for fifth” and that is a race that is easier for a team outside the “big six” to win.

Leicester City have finished fifth in each of the past two seasons, and Everton came fifth back in 2013-14. Last season West Ham United were only one point off fifth spot too. While in most seasons the fifth spot still usually goes to one of the “big six”, there is a much bigger chance of two of those heavyweights under-performing than there is that three “big six” sides underperform.

While Leicester might have benefited in previous seasons, it could be Newcastle United who gain from this extra Champions League place in the future.

Newcastle have the money to break into the Premier League’s elite, and their form since their new owners took over suggests they know how to spend that money wisely. But to attract the very best players, clubs need to be able to offer them Champions League soccer.

Mid-table clubs can spend a fortune, like Everton have done over the last five years, without improving, simply because the top players won’t join a mid-table team. Those clubs can end up buying a whole team of players the next rung down on the ladder, each still costing $30 million, but not massively improving the starting eleven. Newcastle could easily fall into the same spending trap as Everton if they can’t reach the Champions League.

Without Champions League soccer, it is also harder to keep hold of the best players, as Leicester City could find out this summer, with players like Youri Tielemans and James Maddison attracting a lot of attention from other sides.

Newcastle will also eventually have UEFA’s financial rules to contend with. If they can’t get Champions League soccer, then without that extra income, UEFA’s financial rules will start to hit the club’s spending power, making it even harder to break into the elite.

But as seen by Leicester City recently, fifth spot in the Premier League is much more attainable than fourth. Newcastle could manage to grab that fifth Champions League spot and use it as a springboard, allowing them to attract the kind of players who only want to join an elite club, while staying on the right side of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

With the changes coming in 2024, that could be perfect timing for Newcastle, as they should be starting to challenge at the top end of the table.

The top of the Premier League appears to be a closed shop, but these changes could end up adding one more member to that elite group, with seven teams battling for five Champions League spots.