Newcastle United given interesting Champions League draw update as UEFA rankings revealed

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Newcastle United are on the brink of returning to the Champions League.

The Magpies are close to guaranteeing a top five finish, with Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Chelsea lifting them up to third in the Premier League.

Newcastle United will book their place in next season’s Champions League with one more win, as they prepare to face Arsenal and Everton in their final two games.

If Newcastle qualify for the Champions League, it would represent a truly remarkable season. It was already special after Newcastle won the Carabao Cup, and combining that with elite European football would be outstanding.

The Magpies can even finish as high as second in the Premier League, with Alan Shearer tipping Eddie Howe for manager of the season.

Newcastle United’s UEFA coefficient ahead of 2025/26 return

If Newcastle get over the line and qualify for the Champions League, attention will turn to who they will face.

They were in the group of death last season, drawn against Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan.

Due to their poor UEFA coefficient, Newcastle were placed in pot four. That opened them up to the possibility of an incredibly hard draw, and that is exactly how it panned out.

If Newcastle United qualify for the 2025/26 Champions League, they look set to be in pot four again.

That is because their coefficient will be 22.924, which is the lowest that a Premier League club can have. That figure is 20% of England’s overall coefficient, which stands at 114.624.

The Magpies’ actual UEFA score is only eight, due to their limited involvement in Europe over the past five seasons. As that is less than 20% of England’s overall coefficient, their coefficient will be 22.924.

With Newcastle set to have a coefficient of 22.924, that will almost certainly result in them being in pot four. For the current campaign, the best club in pot four had a coefficient of 30.500.

If the Magpies ended up in the Europa League, they would probably be in pot three due to their coefficient.

That highlights Newcastle’s need to compete in UEFA competitions regularly.

New Champions League format will help Newcastle United

Despite looking likely to be in pot four again, Newcastle United do not need to worry about another potential group of death.

Due to the format change, every club plays two teams from each of the four pots. They play four games at home and four games away.

While Newcastle did not make it beyond the group stage in 2023/24, the new format helped Aston Villa go all the way to the quarter-finals this season.

Eddie Howe’s side will hope to perform much better than they did last time, and the change in format should hopefully facilitate that.

For now, Newcastle United’s priority is securing a top five finish and booking their place in next season’s Champions League.