2019-20 Champions League pots revealed: PSV & Ajax profit from Arsenal’s Europa League final loss

Impact of Arsenal’s Europa League final loss

Had Arsenal beaten Chelsea in the Europa League final, the Gunners would have been in pot 1 for the 2019-20 Champions League group phase.

After losing, Arsenal face another year of Europa League matches.

Moreover, Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea has had far-reaching consequences for next year’s Champions League.

To begin with, Lyon have benefitted from Arsenal’s loss to Chelsea as the Ligue 1 side has now qualified for the Champions League group phase.

Coucou @ChampionsLeague, compte encore sur nous l’an prochain ! 😉 pic.twitter.com/3eHs8RmBWP

— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) May 29, 2019

PSV & Ajax profit too

Ajax, who lost to Spurs in this season’s Champions League semi-final, won the Dutch title ahead of PSV.

As a result, Ajax will enter the 2019-20 Champions League in the third round of qualifiers.

Arsenal’s loss on Wednesday has also affected the Amsterdam giants as, provided they win their qualifier, Ajax will be placed in pot 2 for the Champions League group draw.

PSV have also benefited from Chelsea’s win.

Had the Blues lost to Arsenal, PSV would have started their Champions League qualifiers in round one.

Now PSV start their UCL campaign in round two, and the Dutch side know they’ll face either FC Basel or Olympiakos.

What this result means for Champions League places next season:

Chelsea: Seeded (pot 1) in UCL group draw
Lyon: Promoted to group stage
LASK Linz: Promoted to 3QR
Istanbul Basaksehir: Promoted to 3QR

Arsenal: Europa League group stage#UELfinal #CFC https://t.co/PZMZZdYrP7

— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) May 29, 2019

2019-20 Champions League pots

As revealed by ESPN, the 2019-20 Champions League pots are now almost finalised.

Chelsea have joined Man City in pot 1 for next season’s draw.

If Tottenham win the Champions League final on Saturday night, Spurs will also be in pot 1.

Alternatively, Liverpool will be in pot 1 if they triumph in Madrid.

As things stand today, the 4 pots for the 2019-20 Champions League are as follows (note – if a team is bold, that’s because their pot is guaranteed):

POT 1: Liverpool or Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2 (provisional): Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto*, Liverpool or Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax*

POT 3 (provisional): Benfica, Dynamo Kiev*, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Valencia, Inter Milan, Celtic*

POT 4 (provisional): FC Copenhagen*, Dinamo Zagreb*, Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Lille

*denotes must go through qualifying

Also see: How Wolves & Man United were impacted by the Europa League final.

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