This is how your club plays European
Five European aspirants look to VfB Stuttgart
By Till Erdenberger
4/21/2023, 6:34 p.m
Which Bundesliga club qualifies for a European Cup? It’s complicated. A title provides security, but maybe 7th place is enough. The in-form relegation candidate VfB Stuttgart causes concerns among the European aspirants.
What a rise story: after the 12th matchday of the current season, Bayer Leverkusen is in 16th place in the Bundesliga. It is the relegation rank. Today, half a year later, Bayer Leverkusen is about to make it into the Champions League: Because they have caught up and above all because the Werkself are in the semi-finals of the Europa League. A win in the competition brings the ticket directly to the premier class. Without detours!
While Bayer has it in its own hands whether it will play internationally in the coming season, some Bundesliga clubs can hope – or have to worry. Because the constellation of which club qualifies for a European competition threatens to become complicated. On the one hand, this is due to the Leverkusen team. But even VfB Stuttgart can still mess things up.
Half of the Bundesliga trembles before VfB Stuttgart
Anything can happen, only VfB Stuttgart can’t win the cup! Eintracht Frankfurt, 1. FSV Mainz 05, Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg are likely to be resentful of the poor relegation fighters from Swabia, at least on the quiet.
These four clubs can realistically still hope for 6th or 7th place in the Bundesliga finals, the fifth – Bayer Leverkusen – wants to defend at least 6th place, which certainly entitles them to honors in Europe. 7th place can also qualify for entry into the Conference League again this year – even if VfB Stuttgart does not win the DFB Cup. There you have your hands full at the moment to hold the class.
Basically, the top four in the Bundesliga qualify for the Champions League, the cup winners and the fifth in the Bundesliga play in the Europa League, and the sixth starts in the conference. If the cup winner ends up in one of the first six places, the seventh moves up – and starts in the playoffs of the Conference League. The sixth moves directly into the Europa League group stage.
As a cup semi-finalist, Eintracht Frankfurt has it in their own hands to quickly clear things up for themselves: On May 3rd – after the 30th Bundesliga matchday – the Hessians play for the relegation candidates for the cup final. The other two semi-finalists – last year’s two finalists RB Leipzig (currently 4th place) and SC Freiburg (5th place) – should qualify for a European competition via the Bundesliga anyway.
At Mainz 05, Gladbach and Wolfsburg, a win by Eintracht Frankfurt over VfB Stuttgart would not provide additional planning security: they all have to displace Hessen, the 2019 cup winners, from 7th place. If Frankfurt continues its relegation trend and wins the cup again after the end of the season, they will play in Europe again. Unlike in 2015, the inferior finalist will no longer be consoled with a European starting place.
If Bayer Leverkusen wins the Europa League…
… of course, as usual, the German champions, second, third and fourth place in the group stage of the Champions League. If Bayer Leverkusen wins the title and repeats the sensational triumph of last year’s winner Eintracht Frankfurt, five Bundesliga teams will start in the premier class for the second time – if coach Xabi Alonso doesn’t still lead his team into the top four.
If a Europa League winner Bayer Leverkusen (despite seven points behind fourth-placed Union Berlin and six points behind SC Freiburg in fifth place) still qualify via the league for the Champions League in the final sprint, it would remain with four Germans starters. If Leverkusen wins the Europa League and finishes fifth, only the DFB Cup winner will play in the Europa League. If the DFB Cup winner also achieves a European starting place via the league, the sixth will play in the Europa League, the seventh in the Conference League. If Bayer Leverkusen is sixth, there will be no German starters in the Conference League.
How does Bayer Leverkusen get an additional European starting place for the Bundesliga?
A Europa League triumph by Bayer Leverkusen only helps one Bundesliga club in every possible constellation: Bayer Leverkusen. If the UEFA Cup winner misses qualification for a European competition via the league, victory in the Europa League still means the way to the Champions League. Just like Eintracht Frankfurt did last season with an incomparable triumph: The Hessians moved into the Champions League as eleventh in the league.
So plain text: What has to happen for the Bundesliga seventh to qualify for an international competition?
The seventh plays in the Europa League if he wins the DFB Cup himself. The seventh reaches the playoffs for the Conference League if the DFB Cup winner finishes in the top six of the Bundesliga. 1. FC Köln benefited from this regulation this season, coming seventh to celebrate the cup victory of Champions League starter RB Leipzig. A year earlier, Union Berlin moved into the Conference League because Borussia Dortmund finished third in the league and then won the cup.
The eighth of the Bundesliga can not …
… hoping for a particularly favorable constellation of DFB Cup and Europa League winners. He either has to win the DFB Cup himself or the Europa League in order to qualify for international competition despite the place in the table.