Was listening to 5live yesterday and heard this interesting situation (which you may or may not be already aware of!). I'm not really a football fan (certainly not enough to know the ins and outs) but my interpretation of it is this;

The FA Cup Final is Man City vs. Stoke.

The winners of the FA Cup qualify for Europe, but if the winners qualify via the league, then the FA Cup runners up get what would be the winners Europe spot.

In real terms that means that if Man City finish 4th (and thus qualify for Europe) then Stoke would be in Europe next year whether they win or lose the FA Cup Final.

In other words, it is DEFINITELY in Stoke's best interests for City to finish 4th.

Which is all fine and dandy, except the race for 4th is very tight, and Stoke have yet to play City in the league, so Stoke could have a say in whether or not City finish 4th, meaning it is in Stoke's best interest to LOSE the league match against City, and if they beat City in the league, they've effectively knocked themselves out of Europe.

Weird! Can't see how that one will work itself out!

And Spurs seem to be moaning about this too.

Wonder why

Anyone at Spurs who as much as suggests that Stoke are going to throw the league game at City should be banned by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute.

As Stoke's chairman has pointed out, there's a lot of money riding on where they finish in the Premier League, so it's ludicrous to suggest that they aren't going to be trying to get as many league points as possible.

English clubs in Europe next season if it goes to plan for Stoke.

Uefa Champions League: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City

Uefa Europa League: Tottenham Hotspur, Birmingham City, Stoke City.

Crazy isn't it!

The worst part is the league match is after the FA Cup match, so if Stoke loose the FA Cup (which let's face it, they're likely to!) by that point, the 100% only way Stoke could play in Europe would be if City finishing 4th!

Madness. Funny madness though!

Yes.



You are right.



There is a lot of money riding on the league points.



The suggestions that Stoke would rather play in Europe than finish slightly higher mid-table is ludicrous.

£500k for each league place compared to millions from european football. champions league is touted as £60 million, Europe League will be around £20 million I would expect.

With them numbers the Stoke's chairmans argument doesnt stand up for very long.

Agree far more lucrative to be in europe rather than few league places

Tottenham play Liverpool the day after the Cup Final. If Man City have won the FA Cup, it would be in Liverpool's interests for City to finish fifth, meaning Liverpool in 6th would get the league UEFA spot. So the best result for them could be to lose, helping Tottenham come 4th.

Harry, of course, hasn't mentioned this.

The real problem is not having the Cup Final as the very last game of the season.

Stoke City would only qualify for the UEFA Europa league if they

a: Win the FA Challenge Cup.
b: Manchester City win the FA Challenge Cup and qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Other scenario.

Manchester City win FA Challenge Cup and do not qualify for UEFA Champions League. If they finish in what would be a qualifying spot for the UEFA Europa League (5th) then their league spot would be allocated to the club finishing 6th in the Barclays Premier League. If Manchester City finish 6th in the Barclays Premier League then the 5th placed club would be allocated their UEFA Europa League berth as usual.

Further to Frosties post, there is a chance England will be allocated an extra spot in the UEFA Europa League via the Fair Play League. This would go to the highest ranked club in the Barclays Premier League Fair Play standings not already qualified for the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League. This spot is currently occupied by Fulham FC.

Fulham always seem to get that gig!