The Europa League and Conference League as Routes Below

The road to the Champions League does not run over a cliff. Below it sit two more competitions, and the clubs that fall short at any gate are redirected into them, so a European season continues whatever happens in the qualifying rounds.

The three tiers

The Champions League is the first tier, the Europa League the second and the Conference League the third. Each has its own league phase and its own knockout, and each is a full competition in its own right.

The tiers are connected rather than separate. A club can enter at the top and descend, or it can begin in a lower tier and win its way up through the rules that link the competitions.

How clubs descend

Clubs eliminated in the Champions League qualifying rounds are routed into the Europa League, and clubs eliminated in the Europa League's own rounds can descend again into the Conference League. The redirection is defined in advance for each round.

That descent is the mechanism that makes the pyramid work. A club's European season is a function of how far it progressed at each level, and losing at one level is a change of competition rather than an elimination.

How clubs ascend

There is no automatic promotion between the tiers within a season, but the winners of the lower tiers can earn entry to the higher ones in the following season under the rules of the allocation.

That is the reward for winning a lower tier. A Europa League title can secure a place in the Champions League for the next edition, and a Conference League title opens the Europa League, so success at one level lifts a club up the pyramid.

Why the pyramid matters

The pyramid gives every eliminated club something to play for. It also gives the smaller associations a realistic route to European football beyond the first qualifying round, which is what keeps the whole system open.

For the clubs, it means a European campaign is rarely decided by a single tie. A defeat in July can still lead to a long run in the autumn, and the revenue and experience that come with it.

Reading the pyramid

The three tiers are best read as one system. The Champions League is the summit, but the competitions below it are not consolation prizes; they are stages of the same structure with their own prestige and their own rewards.

Anyone following the road to the final should keep the pyramid in view, because the clubs that enter the Champions League league phase are only part of the story of a European season.

• The Champions League is the top of a three-tier European pyramid.
• The Europa League is the second tier and the Conference League the third.
• Clubs eliminated in Champions League qualifying are routed into the Europa League.
• Further elimination can send a club down again into the Conference League.
• Winning a lower tier can earn entry to a higher tier in the next season.
• The pyramid ensures a European season continues after a qualifying defeat.

The pyramid is the reason a defeat in the qualifying rounds is not the end of a European season. It gives every club a route to continue, and it makes the Champions League the summit of a system rather than the only European competition that matters.