{"id":77888,"date":"2025-05-06T01:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/77888\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T01:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:29:11","slug":"arsene-wenger-calls-for-huge-europa-league-rule-change-ahead-of-possible-manchester-united-vs-tottenham-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/77888\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsene Wenger calls for huge Europa League rule change ahead of possible Manchester United vs Tottenham final"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Europa League winners should be stripped of automatic Champions League qualification, according to Arsene Wenger.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His comments come ahead of the second legs of this season’s semi-finals on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Wenger<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Wenger believes Europa League winners should lose their privilege of direct qualification for the following season’s Champions LeagueCredit: BeIN Sports\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The winners of this season’s Europa League will qualify for the Champions LeagueCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Manchester United<\/a> and Tottenham both hold healthy leads from their opening matches against Athletic Bilbao<\/a> and Bodo\/Glimt, respectively.<\/p>\n

The Europa League<\/a> winners currently earn a direct spot into the following season’s Champions League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UEFA<\/a> have handed out the qualification place every season since 2014.<\/p>\n

However, Wenger believes the winners should instead qualify for the next season’s Europa League.<\/p>\n

The former Arsenal boss told beIN Sports<\/a>: “They should qualify automatically for the Europa League but not necessarily for the Champions League.<\/p>\n

“Especially when you’re in the Premier League where already five teams qualify.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s something [for UEFA] to think about and to review.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand people will tell you that to keep the Europa League focused, interesting and motivated you need to give them that prize [Champions League].”<\/p>\n

A team has yet to reach the Europa League final whilst finishing lower than 12th in their domestic league since the competition was rebranded for the 2009\/10 season.<\/p>\n

Sevilla<\/a> finished 12th in La Liga<\/a> in 2022\/23 on their way to lifting the trophy for a record-extending seventh time.<\/p>\n

\"United<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

United are on course to meet Spurs in this month’s Europa League finalCredit: Getty\"Spurs<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Spurs and United would be the lowest ranked finalists since the competition’s rebrandCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fulham<\/a> ended the 2009\/10 season in the same spot before suffering a defeat to Atletico Madrid in the final.<\/p>\n

United previously benefitted from the rule after winning the Europa League in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Red Devils qualified for the following season’s Champions League as a result, despite finishing sixth in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Both Spurs and United are currently in the bottom half of the Premier League.<\/p>\n

With three matches remaining, Ruben Amorim<\/a> and Ange Postecoglou’s sides are 15th and 16th, respectively.<\/p>\n

Neither side can finish any higher than 12th in the table this season.<\/p>\n

Martin O’Neill reveals why he found Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger ‘incredibly arrogant’ & annoying!<\/p>\n

The Europa League semi-final second legs are scheduled to take place on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bilbao’s 53,331-capacity San Mames Stadium will host the final<\/a> on May 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Europa League winners should be stripped of automatic Champions League qualification, according to Arsene Wenger. His comments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[15618,748,1614,393,1811,4884,2465,98,201,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-77888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-arsene-wenger","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-europa-league","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-manchester-united","16":"tag-tottenham-hotspur","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114458300890365472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}