PSG triumph would not qualify Lyon or Marseille for Champions League league phase | OneFootball

PSG are already in next season's Champions League via Ligue 1 and could win Saturday's final, but that would not hand another French club a place.

According to L'Équipe, France will have three or four teams in the league phase next season, depending on Lyon in qualifying. The total will not reach five with Marseille even if PSG beat Arsenal, and Lyon would not go straight into the league phase.

Under the new format introduced in summer 2024, the title-holder berth no longer returns to the winners' league when they are already qualified. Instead, it goes to the club with the best UEFA coefficient among teams in the Champions path of qualifying.

With PSG facing Arsenal, both domestic champions, that condition is already met. The beneficiary is Chakhtior Donetsk, champions of Ukraine and 45th in the UEFA ranking on 56,250. Associations ranked 11 to 55, such as Norway, Greece, Austria, Scotland and Poland, feed the Champions path, so French clubs are not eligible, Ligue 1 sides enter the League path.

A French boost could only have come via the Europa League winners. If already qualified through their league, an automatic league-phase spot passes to the top coefficient from the qualifiers in either path. Sporting Portugal, on 59,000, claimed that status ahead of Lyon, on 65,750, and avoided the third qualifying round and the play-offs thanks to Aston Villa.

Source: L'Équipe