Two bonus Champions League places decided – How the La Liga and Premier League contests now look | OneFootball

The chances of Newcastle United playing Champions League football in the 2025/26 season had a huge boost on 8 April 2025.

Amongst the Champions League matches played that night, in North London, three goals in 17 second half minutes earned Arsenal a resounding 3-0 first leg victory over Real Madrid.

Most importantly…That win for Arsenal also meant that the Premier League had a fifth place in the 2025/26 Champions League, was now confirmed.

Two extra spots are now awarded to countries based on their ranking in Uefa’s coefficient table.

The two leagues/countries that finished highest in the 2023/24 season were Italy and Germany, which meant Bologna and Dortmund played in the 2024/25 Champions League.

After England/Premier League on 8 April 2025 grabbed one of the two bonus places for the 2025/6 Champions League, it was then down to between La Liga and Serie A to see who got the other bonus Champions League place.

That contest came to a conclusion this week, when on Thursday, Lazio’s were knocked out of the Europa League, whilst Athletic Bilbao knocked out Rangers.

La Liga joining the Premier League as having a bonus fifth place in next season’s Champions League.

This is how the La Liga table currently looks on the morning of Saturday 19 April 2025:

As you can see, currently Villarreal look the big favourites to take advantage of the bonus CL fifth place, with Real Betis their biggest rivals for that spot.

This is how the Premier League table currently looks on the morning of Saturday 19 April 2025:

A lot more competitive in the Premier League with Man City the current fifth place beneficiaries, though Chelsea and Villa both only a point behind.

Indeed, only five points separate Newcastle United in third and Aston Villa in seventh, something which makes today’s game at Villa Park so important.

UEFA will be patting themselves on the back, claiming how well this part of the new Champions League format is working. With four different leagues getting the bonus places these first two years of the revamp.

Serie A and the Bundesliga successful in 2023/24, now the Premier League and La Liga in 2024/25.

The reality of course is, that it is very difficult, almost impossible, to see any other league/country getting one of the bonus Champions League places, beyond these four who already been successful these two years.