Fans are only just discovering the Premier League could get an extra Champions League place next season

Fans are only just discovering the Premier League could get an extra Champions League slot next season.

Next season Europe’s premier competition will expand from 32 clubs to 36, while the traditional group stage is set to be replaced.

In its place, each side will play eight games in a newly revamped league stage, with those that finish between first and eighth automatically qualifying for the last 16. Meanwhile, those in ninth to 24th will contest a two-legged play-off to determine the final eight teams in the last 16.

Of course, the knockout stage will be unchanged from the current format.

But another significant difference is that additional slots for the new Champions League will be allocated to the two best-performing nations over the previous season, as determined by UEFA’s co-efficiency ranking. Moreover, an extra slot will be given to the fifth-placed nation in UEFA’s ranking.

Indeed, if the new rules had been applied for this season, England and Italy would have been granted an additional Champions League place given clubs from those nations performed best in Europe in the 2022/23 campaign.

And fans have just realised should English teams perform as well in the season’s Champions League the Premier League’s fifth-place side will qualify for next year’s tournament.

And fans on Twitter (X) have been quick to react to the rule change by making jibes at their rivals.

One Manchester City fan said: “Good news for Man Utd then.”

Another said: “Now Liverpool might have a chance to play champions league next season.”

An Arsenal fan joked: “Man United fans should be happy then.”

Others were critical of UEFA changing the Champions League format.

One wrote: “This is all ridiculous, stop further diluting the pool, stop trying to compensate for the super league, stop complicating things further and get back to what it was known for elite European knock-out cup competition.”

Another said: “What's even the point calling it the "champions" league anymore?”

A third person wrote: “So why is it called the Champions League if a quarter of the league qualifies for it?”