Sunderland and Bournemouth given European football 'guarantee' next season thanks to UEFA rule

Bournemouth and Sunderland's respective starts to the 2025/26 Premier League campaign have caught many teams by surprise.

At the time of writing, both sides have five wins apiece with the Cherries second in the table. Two places back in fourth are high-flying, newly-promoted Sunderland, who pulled off a famous victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

During the opening nine games of this Premier League season, Bournemouth and the Black Cats have disrupted the established top flight order, picking up more points than Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Sunderland and Bournemouth on course for European football next season

While the two teams are doing all they can to put the big sides' noses out of joint, they ought to be cheering them on in Europe.

The better English teams do in Europe this season, the better chance Bournemouth and Sunderland stand of embarking on major European campaigns of their own in 2026/27.

Sunderland's only previous foray into European competition lasted two rounds of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1970s, while Bournemouth have never appeared in Europe.

Both teams currently occupy Champions League qualification places in the Premier League table, but with so many matches still to play, the expectation is that sides with deeper squads will leapfrog them as the season wears on.

That said, Bournemouth and Sunderland have given themselves a great chance of making history thanks to their excellent starts.

This year, there are nine English teams in UEFA competition. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United (Champions League); Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa (Europa League); Crystal Palace (Europa Conference League).

All nine are still in their respective competitions and there is a good chance the Premier League will be represented by a number of them in the latter rounds, once the league phase stage has concluded.

UEFA's Club Coefficient is a ranking system which measures the performance of clubs in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League over the last five seasons. Points are earned based on wins, draws, and progression through to the knockout rounds.

Last season, due to English teams' historic performance in Europe, the Premier League was awarded five automatic Champions League qualification places. Spurs' victory in the Europa League Final then ensured of a sixth team in Europe's premier club competition for 2025/26.

Teams earn two coefficient points for a win and one point for a draw, while bonus points are applicable upon reaching certain stages of competitions with heavier weighting towards the Champions League, which the Premier League has six teams in this year.

The total number of coefficient points earned by clubs from the same country is divided by the number of clubs participating in UEFA competition. So, in the Premier League's case, the final coefficient points tally will be divided by nine.

After the first three rounds of European fixtures this season, England's average coefficient position is the highest of any other country at 8.166. Portugal are second with 7.600, Germany third on 7.285 and Spain fourth with 7.250.

Due to the expanded UEFA club competitions format, two additional places in the 36-team UEFA Champions League are awarded to the two associations/countries whose teams perform best across all UEFA club competitions (UCL, UEL, UECL) during the current season.

Consequently, English teams' strong start this year has all but guaranteed that the Premier League will earn one of those additional spots. The number of English clubs still active across the Champions, Europa, and Conference Leagues makes it highly probable they will finish in the top two. This means whoever finishes fifth in the 2025/26 Premier League table is expected to automatically qualify for the league phase of next season's Champions League.

As a result, sixth and seventh place would compete in the 2026/27 Europa League and the eighth place finisher in the Conference League.

So long as domestic cup winners this season do not finish lower than eighth, as Crystal Palace did last term, Sunderland and Bournemouth know a top eight finish will all but guarantee their first proper European campaigns.