Sunderland & Bournemouth: Guaranteed European Football Next Season Due to UEFA Rule

The early performances of Bournemouth and Sunderland in the 2025/26 Premier League season have taken many by surprise.

Currently, both teams have secured five victories each, with Bournemouth positioned second in the standings. Not far behind, in fourth place, are the newly-promoted Sunderland, who achieved a notable triumph against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge the previous Saturday.

Throughout the initial nine matches of this Premier League term, Bournemouth and Sunderland have upset the expected hierarchy, accumulating more points than Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea.

Whilst the two sides are endeavoring to challenge the established order, they ideally would be supporting the bigger teams in European tournaments.

The more successful English teams are in Europe this season, the greater the likelihood that Bournemouth and Sunderland will have the opportunity to participate in significant European competitions in 2026/27.

Sunderland’s previous participation in a European tournament was limited to two rounds of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1970s, whereas Bournemouth has never competed in Europe.

Currently, both teams hold Champions League qualifying positions in the Premier League, but with numerous games remaining, it is generally expected that teams with more depth in their squads will overtake them as the season progresses.

Nevertheless, Bournemouth and Sunderland have given themselves a significant opportunity to create history because of their exceptional starts.

This year, there are nine English teams participating in UEFA competitions. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United (Champions League); Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa (Europa League); Crystal Palace (Europa Conference League).

All nine teams are still engaged in their respective competitions, and there’s a strong chance the Premier League will be represented by multiple teams in the later stages, after the league phase concludes.

The UEFA Club Coefficient is a system that ranks clubs based on their performance in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League over the most recent five seasons. Points are awarded for victories, draws, and advancement through the knockout stages.

Last season, due to the strong performance of English teams in European competitions, the Premier League was granted five automatic qualification spots for the Champions League. Tottenham’s victory in the Europa League Final then guaranteed a sixth team in Europe’s top club competition for 2025/26.

Teams accumulate two coefficient points for a win and one point for a draw, with bonus points available for reaching certain stages of competitions, weighted more heavily towards the Champions League, which includes six Premier League teams this year.

The aggregate of coefficient points attained by clubs from the same country is divided by the count of clubs representing that country in UEFA competitions. Therefore, for the Premier League, the final tally of coefficient points will be divided by nine.

Following the initial three rounds of European matches this season, England’s average coefficient ranking is the highest among all countries, standing at 8.166. Portugal is second with 7.600, Germany is third at 7.285, and Spain is fourth with 7.250.

Due to the expanded format of UEFA club competitions, two additional slots in the 36-team UEFA Champions League are given to the two associations/countries whose teams exhibit the best performance across all UEFA club competitions (UCL, UEL, UECL) in the ongoing season.

As a result, the strong performance of English teams this year has practically ensured that the Premier League will be awarded one of these extra spots. The large number of English clubs still participating in the Champions, Europa, and Conference Leagues makes it highly probable that they will rank in the top two. This suggests that the team finishing fifth in the 2025/26 Premier League table will likely automatically qualify for the league phase of the Champions League the following season.

Consequently, the teams finishing in sixth and seventh place would compete in the 2026/27 Europa League, and the team in eighth place would enter the Conference League.

Provided that domestic cup winners this season don’t finish below eighth place, similar to Crystal Palace last season, Sunderland and Bournemouth are aware that a top-eight finish will essentially secure their inaugural full European campaigns.