Which teams qualified for Europe? | OneFootball

Which Bundesliga teams will compete in Europe next season?

On the final day of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund secured UEFA Champions League football, while Freiburg had to make do with a place in the Europa League, and Mainz edged out RB Leipzig in the battle for a Conference League play-off spot.

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UEFA Champions League

They are now the 2024/25 Bundesliga champions, but it was back on Matchday 27 that Bayern Munich guaranteed themselves a top-four finish and Champions League qualification. The outgoing champions, Bayer Leverkusen, followed suit two rounds later.

That meant two spots were still up for grabs on the final day, with Frankfurt, Dortmund and Freiburg all still in the race.

Eintracht had missed out on the chance to wrap up a top-four spot in the weeks leading up to the final matchday and were at risk of missing out when they fell behind in Freiburg. A draw would've been enough for the Eagles, but they turned things around to win 3-1 and finish third.

While this isn't the first time Frankfurt will play in the Champions League, having done so on the back of their 2022 Europa League win, this is the first time they have booked their place in the tournament via their league finish.

With Frankfurt and Freiburg having to face each other, Dortmund had their fate in their own hands, despite starting the final day a point behind the latter. Niko Kovač's men ultimately made light work of already relegated Holstein Kiel, running out 3-0 winners after taking the lead inside three minutes.

It was a remarkable turnaround for a team that found itself languishing in 11th place as recently as the end of March. However, a return of 22 from a possible 24 points over the last eight games hauled the 2024 Champions League runners-up into fourth and back into Europe's top competition once again.

>>> How does European qualification work?

Europa League

It was ultimately so close, yet so far for Freiburg as they missed out on a first-ever Champions League qualification right at the death. They were even set to finish third when they took the lead against Frankfurt, but it wasn't to be for Julian Schuster's men in his first season as a senior head coach.

There may have been some immediate feelings of disappointment, but the overwhelming emotion at Freiburg will be of joy as the club embarks on a seventh continental journey - and a third in four years - with a crack at the Europa League. They go straight into the league phase for 2025/26.

Germany's second Europa League berth will be taken by the winners of the DFB Cup. VfB Stuttgart, who finished ninth in the Bundesliga, will take on Arminia Bielefeld, who have just gained automatic promotion back to Bundesliga 2, meet in Berlin on Saturday as they battle to lift the trophy and also get into Europe next season.

Conference League

Sixth place in the Bundesliga earns a spot in the play-off round of qualifying for the Conference League. In a straight shootout between Mainz and RB Leipzig, it was the 05ers who came out a point ahead after holding Leverkusen on the final day, while Leipzig lost at home to Stuttgart.

It's the fifth time the Carnival club have earned a place in Europe and the first since competing in the group stage of the Europa League in 2016/17. Three of the previous years have also seen them enter qualifying rounds, although they only progressed to the main stage once before, in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup under Jürgen Klopp, having earned their spot via a Fair Play berth despite finishing 11th.

As for Leipzig, it meant they missed out on Europe for the first time since their top-flight arrival in 2016. It's a double blow given that their Red Bull Arena will host the final of the Conference League in 2026.

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