Who qualifies for Champions League with Manchester City banned?

Manchester City have been banned from Champions League for the next two season – 2020/21 & 2021/22 – and have also been fined €30 million for breaching FFP rules.

The verdict now opens up a spot in the Champions League for Premier League clubs as City are bound to finish in the top 4 this season. As they cannot compete in the competition, it is a question of who gets the vacant spot.

There are 2 ways The FA can go about with this right now:

#1 – 5th placed side in Premier League goes to Champions League

One of Sheffield United, Wolverhampton and Manchester United could benefit a lot if The FA decide to give the vacant Champions League spot to the team finishing 5th in the table.

The move could see the 7th placed side automatically go into the Europa League group stage instead of making their way through the qualifiers.

#2 – FA Cup winners get the Champions League spot

The other thing The FA could do is hand the Champions League spot to the FA Cup winners. The current prize for the competition winners is a place in the Europa League and they could just upgrade that and hand them a place in the Champions League.

This move could see the teams left in the competition take it even more seriously and try and earn their place among Europe’s elite.