Uefa has confirmed that the 9th-placed team in Serie A may play in Europe in 2024-25. This will occur if Fiorentina win the Conference League and finish 8th in the league. Torino and Napoli are the teams fighting for that spot with one league fixture to be played.
The regulations regarding entries for the Champions League were not entirely clear about how the European spots would be distributed in this specific case, but Giorgi Marchetti, vice secretary-general of Uefa, guaranteed to “Sky Sports” that it is possible that nine Italian teams play European competitions in 2024-25 even if Fiorentina win the Conference League and finish in the top 8.
Possible scenarios
Instead of the usual four Champions League spots, Italy has guaranteed one of the two European Performance Spots for 2024-25 – the other one was earned by Germany.
These additional spots were introduced this season following the change of European competition formats. The Champions League, Europa League and Conference League are going to have 36 teams from next season on.
The European Performance Spots go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season's Uefa men's club competitions.
As a result, Serie A is going to send five teams to the Champions League, two to the Europa League and one to the Conference League.
If Atalanta win the Europa League – they play the final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, the 22nd –, and finish the league 5th or below, Italy would have six teams in the UCL, one in the UEL and one in the UECL. If they finish in the top 4, there would be five teams in the next UCL and two in the UEL.
Fiorentina are currently 8th in the league and they will guarantee a top 8 spot if they collect three points within their two matches left without relying on other team’s results – this can be achieved if they defeat Cagliari next Thursday, the 23rd. La Viola still have two matches left, one more than most teams in the league since their clash against Atalanta, which was postponed in April following a cardiac arrest suffered by Florence side’s CEO Joe Barone, who died days later. This match is scheduled for May 2nd, one week after the last round of the regular Serie A season.
A few days earlier, on May 29th, Fiorentina, last year’s runners-up, play Olympiacos in Athens for the Conference League title. By winning the trophy, they would qualify for the Europa League. In case they finish 8th in the league, their Conference League spot would go to the 9th-placed team.
If Fiorentina finish 9th or below, they would still play the Europa League next season and the 8th placed team in Serie A would qualify for the Conference League.
However, if Fiorentina win the Conference League and finish 7th, the 9th-placed team would not play in Europe in 2024-25. This scenario would occur if La Viola beat both Cagliari and Atalanta and Lazio lose to relegated Sassuolo at home in their final Serie A match.
Serie A standings
