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The new initiatives for the Premier and Football Leagues

NEW INITIATIVES: There have been a number of new initiatives for the Premier and Football Leagues. Pic: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

1. Four becomes five: It could be goodbye Top Four and hello Fabulous Five ahead of next season's Champions League revamp. UEFA's new format will include 36 teams for the 2024/25 season, meaning an additional four clubs can enter. The two countries with the highest UEFA coefficient by the end of this season will get one extra entry each, and as things stand that will be England and Spain.

This season's results across all UEFA competitions will still come into the equation, though, which should be good news for England. Manchester City are hot favourites to retain the Champions League, Liverpool are favourites to lift the Europa League trophy, and Aston Villa are front-runners for the Conference League. England has eight teams in Europe this season, and if they reach the latter stages of the cups, fifth place in the Premier League will qualify automatically for next season's CL. Just one snag – at time of writing, no-one seems to know when it will be decided. It is possible that the team finishing their campaign in fifth (which last season was Liverpool) will not know their fate until after the UEFA club finals are over, some weeks later!