In extreme cases, 11 teams participated in the European game! Manchester United and Tottenham may create a rare situation in Premier League history

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur both won the first leg of the Europa League semi-final, which greatly increased the possibility of an English team meeting in the final, which may be held in Bilbao on May 21.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are likely to meet in the UEFA Cup final.

With only 10 players left to Athletic Bilbao, Manchester United easily defeated their opponent 3-0. At the same time, Tottenham also defeated Bode Shining 3-1 at home. This result has opened an unprecedented situation for the Premier League in terms of European competition qualification allocation.

Previously, Arsenal's victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals has ensured that the top five teams in the Premier League in the 2024/25 season will qualify for the Champions League next season, thanks to one of the two "European Performance Quota" (EPS) that UEFA began to adopt. This year, Italy and Germany are beneficiaries of the policy, with Bologna and Dortmund able to compete in the Champions League even if they are only fifth in the domestic league.

Currently, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Manchester City and Chelsea occupy the Champions League area. However, Manchester United and Tottenham, the two teams, have underperformed in their national leagues and are almost certainly unable to enter the top five teams, and still have a chance to compete in next season's Champions League if they can win this season's UEFA Cup.

Manchester United or Tottenham can qualify for the Champions League next season by winning the UEFA Cup this season.

If the UEFA Cup finals really staged an "England derby" and one of the teams finally won the championship, then England will have six teams participating in the Champions League next season - something that has never happened in history.

What's more, according to ESPN reporter Dell Johnson, if Arsenal wins the Champions League but fails to enter the top five in the Premier League (the probability of this happening is very small), the number of teams in England's Champions League may increase to seven - which will be unprecedented in the history of the event.

The situation will be more complicated if the following possibilities are taken into account:

Chelsea won the UEFA Cup but failed to enter the top six in the Premier League.

Newcastle, which has won the English League Cup, failed to qualify for European competitions through the domestic league.

If Manchester City wins the FA Cup but they have also qualified for the Champions League, the remaining places may be postponed to other teams.

According to ESPN, in the most extreme case, up to 11 English clubs may compete in the three major European Cups next season, including:

Champions League: Top Five in the Premier League + Europa League champion (Manchester United or Tottenham) + Champions League champion (if Arsenal fails to make the top five).

Europa League: 6th place in the Premier League + FA Cup champion (if not qualified yet) + UEFA Cup champion (Chelsea).

European Association Cup: Newcastle (as League Cup champion).

However, Dell Johnson believes that the possibility of this happening is very small. More realistically, it is most likely that 10 English teams will compete in European competitions next season, especially if Arsenal secures a Champions League place through the domestic league, while Chelsea wins the UEFA Cup but still ranks outside the top six in the Premier League.

In this more realistic situation:

Top five Premier League and UEFA Cup champions (Manchester United or Tottenham) will qualify for the Champions League.

The Premier League sixth place, FA Cup champion and Chelsea (European Association Cup champion) will participate in the UEFA Cup.

Newcastle will participate in the European Cup as the League Cup.