What teams are dropping from the Champions League into the Europa League?
By Euan Burns
Every year there is at least one huge club that gets dumped out of the Champions League and into the Europa League.
It can lead to match-ups that we never thought we'd see, such as West Ham United almost having the chance to play Barcelona in last season's tournament.
Such things could happen again this season, so here are all the teams dropping into the Europa League and who could be joining them after Matchday 6 in the Champions League is done.
Confirmed Champions League teams dropping into Europa League
- Barcelona
- Sevilla
- Ajax
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Sporting CP
The Champions League group stages have finished for half of this year's competing teams, with a number of sides relegated to the Europa League or eliminated from European competition all together.
It's a bad look for La Liga, with only Real Madrid making the UCL knockout stages. Despite their summer transfer nonsense, Barcelona finished below both Bayern Munich and Inter, leaving them to scrap it out in the second tier for a second consecutive season. Fellow Spaniards and Europa specialists Sevilla have also dropped down.
Ajax couldn't escape a group containing Liverpool, Napoli and Rangers and will attempt to win a trophy they have only held once before, back in 1992.
A strong 2021/22 season didn't set Bayer Leverkusen up for success - they dropped down ahead of Atletico Madrid in their group due to their superior head-to-head record, leaving Diego Simeone with no European football for the rest of the season.
The teams who could still drop into the Europa League
There are a lot of very tight groups heading into the final matchday, with a number of sides still uncertain of what competition they'll be playing at the start of next year.
Group E's runners-up spot is available to Milan, Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb, while Juventus need a positive result against PSG to officially confirm their Europa League status.
- AC Milan
- RB Salzburg
- Dinamo Zagreb
- RB Leipzig
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Juventus
- Maccabi Haifa
Group A
Ajax started their group stage campaign in positive fashion with a 4-0 win over Rangers, but four consecutive losses ended their hopes of qualifying for the last 16.
A straightforward 3-1 win at Rangers on the final day claimed third place ahead of the Scots, who conceded 22 goals in their six games.
Group B
Club Brugge were expected to be the whipping boys of Group B but lost only one game finish runners up behind Porto.
Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid looked short on quality against the top two sides but it was the Germans who took third thanks to their head-to-head advantage.
Group D
All four teams had a chance of qualifying for the last 16 in Group D's final slate of matches.
Tottenham topped the group at the start of the night and put their supporters through the wringer before a late Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg strike sealed a 2-1 win and their place in the next round.
Eintracht Frankfurt's victory over Sporting CP gave them second place and the Portuguese side third, leaving Marseille bottom and out of Europe.
Group E
This group isn't a great deal simpler. AC Milan are on seven points, RB Salzburg six, and Dinamo Zagreb four.
Milan face Salzburg at San Siro and just need to avoid defeat to stay in the Champions League. Dinamo Zagreb, meanwhile, need to beat Chelsea to have any chance of the Europa League and hope Milan beat Salzburg.
If Milan lose, they are definitely in the Europa League regardless of what Dinamo Zagreb do as the head-to-head record means the Croatians can only overtake Salzburg.
Group F
Only RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk can end up in the Europa League from this group.
Leipzig are on nine points and Shakhtar six, but head-to-head superiority means that a win for the Ukrainian side will push Leipzig into the Europa League.
Group H
This group also has just two teams fighting for the Europa League spot.
Juventus and Maccabi Haifa are both on three points, with a level head-to-head record. Juve's goal difference is better though so they just need to match the Israeli side's result. The catch is that Juve are playing Paris Saint-Germain, while Maccabi Haifa play Benfica.