Paris (France) (AFP) - The eighth-final round of the European Champions League football competition is witnessing unprecedented English dominance with the presence of six teams, namely Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle, who reserved their place in the playoff at the expense of Azerbaijan's Karabakh on Tuesday, before the draw for the advanced qualifying rounds was drawn on Friday.

Published on: 02/26/2026 - 14:47

The enormous financial strength of the English Premier League has not been translated into permanent continental dominance, as no English team has appeared in the final during the past two seasons of the main continental competition.

An English team has won the title only twice in the last six seasons, and only three times in the last 13 years.

One of the explanations given for this relative failure in light of the financial strength of the Premier League is the fierce competitive nature of the local league, which exhausts teams in the late stages of the season, while teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona of Spain, Bayern Munich of Germany, and Paris Saint-Germain of France often enjoy great comfort locally that allows them to reach European knockout round matches and are more prepared.

But today, English teams have a large margin of superiority over most of their competitors on the continent, which allowed them to easily pass through the unified group stage this season.

Five English teams qualified directly to the eighth final after finishing the unified group stage in the top eight places: Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City.

As for Newcastle, which finished in twelfth place, it defeated Karabakh in the qualifying round 9-3 on aggregate.

English teams lost only six times in 29 matches against other major league teams in Spain, Germany, Italy and France.

The rich are getting richer

The main reason for the superiority of the English Premier League is its enormous financial strength, which is expanding compared to all other leagues.

A report published by the European Football Association (UEFA) on Thursday showed that television broadcast revenues for English Premier League clubs increased by $1.77 billion between 2014 and 2024.

During the same period, the total increase in television revenues for all 53 other top-flight clubs in Europe was just $1.89 billion.

During the past decade, the revenues of English Premier League clubs increased by 4.14 billion dollars, compared to 6.97 billion dollars in total increases for the Spanish, German, Italian and French leagues combined.

Also, 15 of the 30 largest clubs in the world according to the “Football Money League” index by Deloitte belong to the “Premier League”.

The rest of Europe cannot keep up with the English clubs outside the field, and it is no longer able to do so inside it either, with the physical dimension in the English Premier League being superior to weaker continental competitors.

Inter Milan's Romanian coach, Cristian Kevo, said after the loss to Arsenal last month, "They had more intensity, skill and speed."

He added, "I will not point out the value of what they spent, as this is self-evident, but the English league is characterized by a completely different rhythm and intensity from Italian football."

Inter, runner-up last season, bid farewell to the competition after a shocking loss to Norwegian Bodo Glimt in the playoff, leaving Atalanta as the only representative of Italy in the tournament.

There are three Spanish teams in the final eight: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, in addition to Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen from Germany.

As for defending champion Paris Saint-Germain, it is the only representative of France this season, while the picture is completed with the presence of Galatasaray of Turkey, Sporting of Portugal and Bodo Glimt.

The question now remains: How many English teams will reach the quarter-finals? Note that facing Newcastle and Chelsea is the only possibility for an all-English match in the round of 16.

Round of 16 matches:

Paris Saint-Germain/Newcastle United x Chelsea/Barcelona

Galatasaray/Atletico Madrid x Liverpool/Tottenham

Real Madrid/Bodo Glimt x Manchester City/Sporting

Atalanta/Bayer Leverkusen x Arsenal/Bayern Munich

© 2026 AFP

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