How the Three Competitions Connect in the Modern Era

The Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League are not three separate tournaments so much as one pyramid with three levels. Clubs pass between the levels through qualification and through the rounds, and the movement between them is what makes the structure a single system.

A pyramid with three tiers

The three competitions form a hierarchy by rank. The Champions League is the top, the Europa League the middle and the Conference League the base, and each tier gathers a band of clubs according to their results and their country's ranking.

The hierarchy is deliberate. By sorting the clubs of Europe into three levels, the pyramid gives each of them a competition of the right standard, and no club is left outside the structure if it qualifies for Europe at all.

Movement between the tiers

Clubs move between the tiers during the season as well as between seasons. A side that exits the Champions League can enter the Europa League, and a side that exits the Europa League can enter the Conference League, so a campaign can continue across two levels.

The movement keeps the pyramid alive. Because a club is not eliminated from Europe when it leaves one competition, the tiers are connected mid-season, and a side that begins in the top tier can finish the season in the middle one.

Qualification into the tiers

Qualification decides where a club begins. A place is earned through the domestic league and shaped by the country's ranking, and the position of the club and of its league decides which tier it enters and at which round.

The route is clear in advance. A club knows from its domestic finish and its country's standing roughly which competition it will enter, so the place in the pyramid is a product of the season before rather than of chance.

The route upward

The pyramid also offers a route upward. A win in a lower competition carries a place in the tier above, so success in the Europa League leads to the Champions League and a win in the Conference League leads to the Europa League, and the base is tied to the top.

The route rewards a trophy. A club that wins its tier takes a place in the tier above, and the promise of promotion gives the lower competitions a stakes beyond the trophy itself, connecting them to the ambitions of the top.

Reading the three together

The three competitions should be read as a single structure. Their tiers, their formats and their routes between one another are designed as one system, and the movement of clubs through the season is what holds the pyramid together.

For a reader, the pyramid is the shape of European club football. Every club that reaches Europe enters one of the three tiers, and the connections between them mean that a single season can carry a side across more than one level of the game.

• The three competitions form one pyramid.
• Each tier gathers a band of clubs by rank.
• Clubs move between tiers across seasons.
• They can also move between tiers during a season.
• A win in a lower tier opens a place in the one above.
• The connections make the three a single system.

The three competitions are one pyramid. Each tier gathers a band of clubs, the tiers are linked by qualification during the season and between seasons, and a win in a lower tier carries a place in the one above, so the structure is connected from base to top.