Will an English team win the UEFA Conference League?
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When it comes to playing in Europe, this is the dream of any team within the Premier League, or indeed in any of the countries within Europe. And this used to be very exclusive, for many years, with there being just two tiers within the European football industry, with that being the Champions League, which of course is for the best of the best from each country. And then you have the Europa League, also formerly known as the UEFA Cup, which is the second tier. However, UEFA made a decision to make European football more accessible and that is when the UEFA Conference League was conceived.
What is the Conference League?
It was created back in 2021 by UEFA in order to give those teams that are sometimes lower-ranking countries a better chance to progress through the system while playing other teams from Europe, giving them valuable experience. In the 3 years since, it has been once by Roma, West Ham, and Olympiacos. And off the back of West Ham’s success in the competition in the 2022–23 season, today the spotlight is not on the competition's history itself but rather looking to the future and looking at what the chances are of a team from England lifting the title and what the conference league odds are.
Who qualified for it?
So who do we have representing them in the competition this year? Well, in fact, everything changed following Manchester United’s victory over Derby rivals Manchester City, which entitled them to play in Europe next season. And so following this, there was a knock-on effect that saw Newcastle United knocked out of the European qualifying places altogether and Chelsea drop from the Europa League. And Chelsea, of course, are a team used to playing in the Champions League, let alone the Europa League, and they now find themselves a tier below that.
What are their chances?
So at this level, can we consider this a walk in the park for Chelsea, who are more used to playing teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona than some of the teams that find themselves in this season's Conference League? Well, one aspect and almost the elephant in the room is the financial restrictions that have been placed on Chelsea by UEFA, which also led to speculation as to whether they might actually reject their place in the competition. However, despite all of this speculation, they have proceeded to enter the competition. The first-round draw has also been made recently, which has indicated that Chelsea will face either Braga or Servette in the play-off round.
Squad changes
If you ask any Chelsea fan or follower, they will admit that they have had a few disappointing seasons, and where they finished last year with the lack of silverware is not what they are used to. It was therefore hoped that there would be some activity over the summer to bolster the squad's strength so that they could gain the confidence of the fans back and start to restore faith in a team that has won all they can. Some of the purchases include Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester for a fee of £35.4 million as well as Filip Jørgensen from Villarreal CF for £24.5 million.
In summary, only time will tell if Chelsea have got what it takes to gain European glory again, just like they have in the past, having been past winners of the top-tier Champions League. However, the abundance of transfer activity and the fact that they are now back in Europe may be all that the club needs to restore that confidence and faith.