Chelsea and Newcastle discover European fates as Man United win FA Cup final

Chelsea will play in the Europa Conference League and Newcastle will miss out on European football entirely as a result of Manchester United winning the FA Cup.

United beat arch-rivals Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley, gaining Europa League football in the process.

Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League with Newcastle three points below them in seventh.

Only the top six in the Premier League qualify for Europe via their final standings but the FA Cup offers one final spot.

Chelsea knew they would play play in the Europa Conference League next season at the very least, but would have been given a spot in the Europa League with a win for City, who had already qualified for the Champions League.

Newcastle needed a City win to secure European football.

However United, who finished eighth and had to win the FA Cup to qualify for Europe, have been rewarded with the Europa League spot as a result.

They will join Tottenham in the second tier of European football, with Atalanta the reigning champions after they beat Bayer Leverkusen.

It means Chelsea will play in the Europa Conference League for the first time since it was first contested in the 2021/22 season.

Previous winners include Roma and West Ham, with Olympiacos and Fiorentina fighting for the title on Wednesday night.

Newcastle on the other hand, who played in the Champions League this season, have missed out on Europe altogether.

Eddie Howe’s side finished fourth last year to qualify for Europe’s top club competition but seventh means they won’t play at all this time.

City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa will represent England in the Champions League next season.

All three of Europe’s competitions feature revamped formats from next season, with the traditional group stages being scrapped.

A single league phase has now been introduced in order to determine who qualifies for the knockout stages.