It's the return of the UEFA Champions League this week and a reminder of where Arsenal want to be in the very near future.
The Gunners will be looking on, perhaps with a little envy, as their London rivals in Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea do battle in the round of 16 stage against AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund respectively over the next month, not to mention Manchester City facing RB Leipzig and a repeat of last season's final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal supporters do not need a reminder that things could have been very different having gone into the final three games of the 2021/22 campaign on course to end their five-year absence from European football's elite club competition only to miss out on a top-four finish by two points.
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Although the one positive to finishing fifth was qualifying for the Europa League following no European football whatsoever last season. And in relation to the upcoming changes to Champions League qualification, it is a good sign that the current Premier League leaders topped their group before Christmas.
As previously announced by UEFA, the 2024/25 edition of the Champions League will follow a new format as there will be a single league made up of all 36 competing clubs. This means a departure from the current format of a 32-team group stage and most importantly, as the statement explained: "This will give four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe."
However, access will no longer be granted based on 'two clubs with the highest club coefficients that have not qualified automatically for the Champions League’s league stage, but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase or the Europa League/the Europa Conference League.'
Instead, as announced per UEFA's official website when the changes were finalised and approved back in May 2022, the four additional places created by the increase from 32 to 36 teams in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League will be allocated as follows:
- 'One place will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the UEFA national association ranking.'
- One place will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the so-called "Champions Path".
- 'The final two places will go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season (total number of points obtained divided by the number of participating clubs). Those two associations will earn one place for the club best ranked in the domestic league behind the UEFA Champions League positions.'
Interestingly, if this change came into effect this season then the two associations adding one club to the Champions League, based on the collective performance of their clubs would have been England and the Netherlands after obtaining 21.000 and 19.200 points respectively.
Currently, as things stand, England (16.571) and Germany (13.750) would be adding one club to next season's Champions League if the changes came into effect a year earlier.
This is largely based on all seven Premier League teams' performances across the three European competitions so far this season. As mentioned above, Man City, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool are all in the Champions League round of 16 stage, Manchester United face Barcelona in a Europa League knockout round play-off and West Ham United topped their UEFA Conference League group with a perfect winning record.
Of course, Arsenal are pulling their weight too. Into the round of 16 stage of the Europa League after topping their group ahead of PSV Eindhoven and will add to the number of points obtained by England by having a deep run in the competition - preferably reaching another final.
If England's representatives - whoever it may be - can have a similarly strong showing in European competition next season then the reward will almost certainly be an extra place for one Premier League side in the new Champions League format which is due to come into effect in 2024/25.
As a result, it's in the Gunners' best interest if their rivals also have deep runs in Europe this season and next as, for example, if they fail to secure a top-four finish in the 2023/24 campaign, they would still be in a position to take advantage of the Champions League group phase expanding to 36 teams based on the collective performance by English clubs.
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