Aston Villa have ended a 44-year wait for European silverware — and in doing so, handed the Premier League a genuine shot at placing six teams in next season's Champions League.

Unai Emery's side defeated Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final, with Morgan Rogers among the scorers, to claim a piece of continental history. Villa had already booked their spot in next season's elite competition by virtue of a top-five Premier League finish, but their European triumph reshuffles the qualification picture in the most dramatic fashion.

How six English clubs could qualify

Because Villa are set to enter the Champions League as Europa League winners, the Premier League berth they would otherwise have occupied through a top-five finish effectively becomes available further down the table. In short, sixth place in the Premier League could now be worth a Champions League spot.

The sequence relies on Villa dropping to fifth. That would happen if they lose at Manchester City on the final day and Liverpool win at home to Brentford. Should both results go that way, the sixth-place finish becomes the prize that Bournemouth and Brighton are chasing.

It is worth remembering that the Premier League had already secured a fifth Champions League place earlier this season through UEFA's European Performance Spot, a mechanism that rewards leagues whose clubs perform well across all European competitions. Villa's win now activates that extra route for whoever claims sixth.

Bournemouth v Brighton — who takes sixth?

The race for that coveted sixth position goes to the wire. Bournemouth can secure it by avoiding defeat at Nottingham Forest, regardless of what Brighton do. If the Cherries hold firm on the south coast of the East Midlands, they are on their way to the Champions League for the first time in their history.

Should Bournemouth lose at Forest and Brighton beat Manchester United at the Amex, it would be Fabian Hürzeler's side who sneak into Europe's premier club competition — an equally remarkable story given the Seagulls' trajectory over the past decade.

Only if Brighton win and Bournemouth fail to win does the order change. Any other combination of results — a draw for Bournemouth, or a Brighton slip — keeps the Cherries in sixth.

The bigger picture for English football

Six English clubs in the Champions League would be unprecedented under the current format and represents a remarkable marker of the Premier League's dominance of the UEFA coefficient rankings. The league's clubs have collectively performed at a level across Europe that few could have predicted even five years ago.

Villa's role in all of this is particularly poetic. Emery, the manager who has quietly rebuilt the club into genuine European contenders, has now delivered a trophy that puts them in genuinely rare company. The noises out of Villa Park all season have been that this squad is still growing — and they will now test that theory against the very best on the continent next term.

Sunday's final day of the Premier League season therefore carries Champions League weight at both ends of the table. As sixth place has never mattered quite this much, expect Bournemouth and Brighton's matches to attract more than their usual audience.

Frequently asked

How can the Premier League get six teams in the Champions League?
Aston Villa's Europa League win means they qualify as trophy winners rather than through their top-five league finish. That frees up an extra Champions League spot for the team finishing sixth in the Premier League, on top of the fifth place the league already secured via UEFA's European Performance Spot.
Who finishes sixth in the Premier League — Bournemouth or Brighton?
On the final day, Bournemouth claim sixth if they avoid defeat at Nottingham Forest. If Bournemouth lose and Brighton beat Manchester United at home, Brighton take the spot instead.
What is UEFA's European Performance Spot?
It is an additional Champions League place awarded by UEFA to the domestic league whose clubs collectively produce the strongest results across European competitions in a given season. The Premier League secured this extra berth earlier in the 2024-25 campaign.