The impact of the decision
MANCHESTER City will play in the Champions League next season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned their two-year ban from European competitions in a landmark ruling yesterday.
In a statement, CAS said City “did not disguise equity funding as sponsorship contributions” and that the alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations were “either not established or time-barred”.
Who qualifies for the Champions League?
The verdict means that, as per usual, the top four Premier League clubs will qualify for next season’s Champions League. Newly-crowned champions Liverpool and runners-up City have already secured their place. If City’s ban had been upheld, a fifthplace finish would have been enough to qualify. Instead, the two remaining spots will be contested by Chelsea, Leicester City, Manchester United andwolves.
Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur can also still qualify, though are more likely to fight for a place in next season’s Europa League alongside Arsenal and Burnley.
Who qualifies for the Europa League?
The fifth-place team will automatically qualify for the Europa League group stages and the two remaining spots are awarded to the FA Cup and EFL Cup winners.
As City won this season’s EFL Cup (below), their qualification place will goes to the sixth-place team in the league.
And if City or another top-five finisher wins the FA Cup, the final Europa League spot will go to seventh-place. City, Arsenal, United and Chelsea will contest the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend at Wembley.
What if City or Chelsea win the Champions League, or Man United or Wolves win the Europa League?
City winning the Champions League would have no effect on qualification further down the Premier League. If Chelsea were to win the Champions League but finish outside the top four, they would qualify for next season’s competition as holders. The Premier League would only have two Europa League places — one through the league, one through the FA Cup winners.
If United or Wolves win the Europa League and finish outside the top four, then they will qualify automatically for the Champions League group stages. Again, the Premier League would only have two Europa League places in this scenario — one through the league, one through the FA Cup winners.
As it stands...
Champions League group stages:
Europa League group stages:
WE were playing Wales at Lansdowne Road and Big Jack had their team written down on the back of a cigarette packet.
He strolled into the dressing room, started reading the names out and the first one was Alan Malcolm. There were a few confused looked around the dressing room; and then Jack said: “Well, I’ve never heard of him before, so he must be c***”.
A couple of the lads then interjected and told Jack that it was, in fact, Watford striker Malcolm Allen before he got to the next name on his list: “Jeremy Charles. Who the hell does he play for? Never heard of him, so nothing to worry about from him”.
Of course, he knew full well Charles played for Swansea, but he was setting the scene in his own unique way to let us know that we were better than them and we had nothing to worry about.
That was Jack. Unconventional in many ways, but brilliant in what he did.
He didn’t suffer fools, he spoke to you like a man. If he wasn’t happy with you as a player, you would know about it and if you didn’t improve or live up to his standards, he’d get someone else to come and take your place in the team.
It was Jack’s way or the highway and very quickly, we all started to appreciate that the methods he wanted us to use were producing results.
I have listened to a lot of people talking about our Republic of Ireland team and they are quick to criticise Jack’s style and approach, but I have a perspective on this topic that is not always considered.
We had some great players in the years before Jack got the job, but the managers we had before him never got the best out of those players or found a way to win.