Which Premier League sides qualified for Europe and who missed out?

Ten whistles up and down England have brought another Premier League campaign to an end.

Arsenal are champions of the 2025-26 season, while Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and West Ham United have been relegated to the Championship.

While Arsenal’s title win had already been confirmed before Sunday’s fixtures, only the finishing positions of them in first, Manchester City in second and Manchester United in third were finalised heading into the final day.

That meant there was plenty to play for, including five teams squabbling over which European competition — if any — they would be playing in next term.

Here, The Athletic breaks down which sides ended up qualifying for what.

The Champions League

As above, the top three in the Premier League had already booked their places in the Champions League well ahead of the final day’s play. United’s qualification, largely down to their form under Michael Carrick, sees them return to the competition for the first time since 2023-24.

Earlier in the season, Premier League clubs guaranteed themselves a fifth spot in the Champions League owing to this season’s sides in European competition playing well enough to earn a ‘European Performance Slot’.

Below the top three, Aston Villa had also secured a place in Europe’s top-tier competition in advance of their last game — from both their league performance and winning the Europa League, which they did so by beating Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul on Wednesday. Villa’s surprise 2-1 win at Manchester City meant they finished fourth, above Liverpool, and in doing so, denied sixth place a Champions League spot.

Had Villa finished fifth — technically, ‘outside’ the Champions League places — the Premier League’s European Performance Slot would have fallen down to sixth. But Villa and Liverpool’s final-day results meant Villa finished fourth, with the ‘extra’ Champions League place going to Arne Slot’s side in fifth.

Even if they had beaten Brentford at Anfield, Liverpool would not have been able to move ahead of Villa. Their 1-1 draw instead brought a meek defence of their Premier League title to an end.

The Europa League

The side which will perhaps think about what might have been is Bournemouth, who drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on Sunday to secure sixth place. Bournemouth had already qualified for European competition for the first time in the club’s history ahead of their trip to Forest but will be playing in the Europa League instead of the Champions League thanks to the results of those above them. Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola will not, though, lead the south-coast side into their maiden continental campaign, after confirming his departure last month. Marco Rose will instead helm Bournemouth next term.

Tipped by many as being among the pre-season relegation favourites, Sunderland — who came up via the play-offs in 2024-25 — have stunned the league this season and characteristically beat and leapfrogged one of the Premier League’s most established teams, Chelsea, 2-1 at home on Sunday to book their place in the Europa League. It is little surprise that head coach Regis Le Bris has been nominated for Premier League manager of the season.

The Conference League

Brighton & Hove Albion had an outside chance of leapfrogging Bournemouth going into Sunday, but their 3-0 home defeat against Manchester United meant they dropped down to eighth. Fabian Hurzeler’s side will still embark on the second European campaign in the club’s history, having first qualified for the Europa League with a sixth-placed finish in 2023-23.

Who missed out?

Chelsea started the day outside the European spots in eighth and their defeat at Sunderland saw them drop down to 10th, their second-worst finish in the last decade (12th in 2022-23).

Fellow west London side Brentford were the other side who missed out. They started the day in ninth and their draw against Liverpool meant that is where they finished.

When does next season start?

There’s the small matter of the World Cup between now and then for those already in need of their football fix, but the 2026-27 Premier League gets underway on the weekend of August 22-23. In the last few seasons, the league has opened with a single game a Friday night, which would mean a start date of Friday, August 21.

The fixture list for next season, including whether there will be a Friday night curtain-raiser and the festive schedule, will be released on Friday, June 19 at 10am BST (5am ET).

What about the transfer window?

The summer window opens on Monday, June 15 and closes at 11pm BST on Tuesday, September 1.

The winter window opens on Friday, January 1 and closes at 11pm GMT on Monday, February 1.

Those closing times mark a departure from this season, when the Premier League’s transfer windows closed at 7pm local time.