In a disappointing season, Liverpool finished fifth last season in the Premier League. It felt for a while like a top-four place was beyond reach even despite an upturn late in the campaign.
Fans were left wondering for a while what it all meant. Even though Manchester City won the Champions League, no extra place is afforded to an English team. That meant Liverpool was not involved in last night's Champions League group stage draw and will instead be in today's Europa League edition.
It has been a long time since Jürgen Klopp’s side has had to concern itself with the intricacies of UEFA rules. And those rules are set to change again next season.
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After Manchester City won the Champions League, having already qualified through the league, the ‘spare’ slot went to the division with the highest UEFA coefficient ranking without an automatic group stage qualification place, not to Liverpool.
Ultimately, that seems fair enough. Unlike in the exceptional circumstances of a team winning the Champions League, Liverpool would have done nothing to ‘earn’ a spot in the competition by coming fifth — it would be odd if it could just piggyback in on the basis of Manchester City’s success.
Even so, there is a strong case that FSG could feel especially unlucky to miss out on Champions League qualification, and all of its associated riches. For multiple reasons, it was a trend-defying failure for Liverpool.
First up, Liverpool picked up 67 points last season. In at least two of the last five seasons, that would have been enough to come fourth. Ultimately, the emergence of Newcastle United meant that wasn't the case this time around.
Then there’s an impending rule change to take into account. The new-look Champions League for 2024/25 does not seem to fill any fans with excitement, with most of the opinion that UEFA is needlessly tampering with a winning formula. But the bottom line is that it is coming, and that it will more than likely come with an extra qualification place for the Premier League.
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![Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.](https://i2-prod.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article28219150.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_GettyImages-1748470251.jpg)
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It’s not technically guaranteed, with the two best-performing nations from the previous season based on UEFA coefficients getting the extra slot, but England’s regular strong presence in the latter rounds of European competition makes it an overwhelming possibility that the Premier League top four will become a de facto top five, beginning next season.
To put that another way, Liverpool finished with a points tally last season that might have been enough for Champions League football in each of the last five campaigns, and in a league position that will be enough to qualify in every subsequent season following the UEFA change. It’s an especially unlucky year for FSG to see its team drop out.
But there is a positive angle on all this — one which really alters the picture for FSG. The rule change gives Liverpool a little more leeway moving forward — this was a season where almost everything possible went wrong, and the end result is still right on the cusp of Champions League standard. An extra place for the Premier League would effectively guarantee a place in the future.
Meanwhile, although the relentless presence of Manchester City is not going away any time soon at the top of the league, Liverpool can at least expect slightly less fierce competition for the Champions League spots in the future, with the average required for qualification generally trending downward, apart from this anomalous blip.
Hopefully, this is all academic. FSG will be keen to make Liverpool title challengers again, starting from this season, allowing fans to forget all about the ins and outs of UEFA regulations once more. But even if Klopp’s side cannot rediscover its very best form over the summer, all signs point to any Champions League hiatus at least being a real one-off.
An original version of this story was first published on May 16.