The Premier League will have a joint-record number of clubs in Europe next season, if Oliver Glasner’s side lift another trophy in Leipzig
Crystal Palace would be the ninth Premier League club competing in Europe next season if they win the UEFA Conference League.
Oliver Glasner’s team face LaLiga side Rayo Vallecano in the final at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig tonight (Wednesday, 20:00 BST).
Should Palace become the third English club to win the Conference League in its five years, after West Ham United (2023) and Chelsea (2025), they would automatically qualify for the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League.
The Eagles’ entry in that competition would not affect any other Premier League clubs. Instead, they would be the third English team in next season’s Europa League, following AFC Bournemouth and Sunderland, who qualified after their respective sixth and seventh-place finishes in the Premier League table. Eighth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion will be in the Conference League.
The Premier League’s top four clubs — Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa — will be joined in the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool, who finished in fifth place, the European Performance Spot (EPS).
Palace finished well outside the top eight, in 15th place, but winning the Conference League would give them an immediate return to Europe. This would mean the Premier League matching its own record of nine English clubs in UEFA competitions, following the same number in 2025/26.
Four of the nine clubs would be changed from 2025/26 to 2026/27, with Bournemouth, Brighton, Man Utd and Sunderland replacing Chelsea, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur.
Premier League clubs in Europe next season
Position
Club
Competition
Route
1
Arsenal
UCL
PL
2
Man City
UCL
PL
3
Man Utd
UCL
PL
4
Aston Villa
UCL
PL
5
Liverpool
UCL
EPS
6
Bournemouth
UEL
PL
7
Sunderland
UEL
PL
8
Brighton
UCoL
PL
15
Palace*
UEL
UCoL
*Palace will only qualify for Europe if they win the Conference League (UCoL) final.
Glasner eyes UEFA glory for Palace – this season and next
Wednesday night’s final against Vallecano will be Glasner’s last match as Palace manager, with the Austrian announcing in January that he would leave Selhurst Park when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Glasner won the FA Cup with the Eagles last season, the first major trophy in the club’s history, which led to their very first European campaign.
Asked about the prospect of winning more silverware, Glasner said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday: “I told the players the best thing would be winning tomorrow, but not just for winning tomorrow, but because then they’d play European football in the Europa League next year.
“I would then like to watch them on TV and see them start the Europa League with the desire and the confidence that they could win the Europa League as well.”
See: Which Premier League clubs have won the most European trophies?