Next season's Champions League begins to take shape
The Champions League for the 2019/20 season is beginning to take shape. The names of the 25 teams who have qualified directly for the group stage can now be revealed.
The Spanish, English, Italian and German leagues all have four representatives. The French and Russian league have two representatives with the league champions from Portugal, Belgium, the Ukraine and Turkey also present.
La Liga: FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Valencia
Premier League: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur
Serie A: Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta, Inter Milan
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen
Ligue 1: PSG and Lille
Primeira Liga: Benfica
Belgian legue: Genk
Russian league: Zenit St.Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Ukrainian league : Shakhtar Donetsk
Turkish league: Galatasaray
Austrian league: Salzburg
The Austrian champions Salzburg go straight into the group stages as they occupy the automatic place given to the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League winners as this season’s finalists, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, have qualified thanks to finishing second and fourth respectively in the Premier League.
The 25 teams named above will be joined by the winners of the UEFA Europa League which will be played on Wednesday 29 May. English clubs Arsenal and Chelsea will compete for the trophy in the final which takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan. If Arsenal emerge victorious then the Premier League will have five representatives in the group stage of the competition; however, if Chelsea claim the title then the remaining Champions League place will go to Olympique Lyonnais as third placed finishers in the French league with the London club already having qualified by finishing third in the Premier League.