Europe: What has changed after Lens’ Coupe de France win?
Racing Club de Lens clinched a historic first Coupe de France trophy last week, which has changed who qualifies for European football next season in Ligue 1 McDonald’s
Racing Club de Lens’ 3-1 victory over OGC Nice in the final of the Coupe de France has changed which French teams will qualify for the 2026-2027 Champions League.
Monaco become the 7th French European side
Lens have finished second in the league and are already qualified for next season’s UEFA Champions League group phase, Les Lensois have already qualified for European competition because of their domestic performance. In this case, the seventh French side that will play European football isn’t the Coupe de France holder but the seventh-placed side in Ligue 1 McDonald’s. In this case, it will be AS Monaco.
Les Monegasques are therefore qualified for the play-offs of the Europa Conference League next season.
Rennes move from the Conference League to the Europa League
The second impact of the Sang & Or’s Coupe de France win also helped Stade Rennais, who will move up the European hierarchy for the 2026-2027 season. Despite initially being qualified for the Conference League, the Breton side will hand their spot to Monaco so that they will participate in the Europa League alongside Olympique de Marseille.
European qualification
After being put in place a year and a half ago, the new format of European competition with the League Phase allows for seven French clubs to play in Europe each season. As a reminder, in the classic configuration, the top three in the domestic championship qualify for the league phase of the Champions League, and the fourth-placed team had to play in a preliminary round and a play-off to join them. If not, they would drop to the UEFA Europa League.
The fifth-placed team in Ligue 1 McDonald’s allows for qualification for the league phase of the Europa League. As for the sixth-placed side, they stamp their ticket to play in a qualification play-off for the UEFA Conference League.
