UEFA confirms two guaranteed European league phase spots for Polish clubs in 2027/28

Guaranteed league phase berths

UEFA has officially approved the access list and competition calendar for the 2027/28 European club season, confirming five qualification berths for Polish clubs. Poland secured 12th place in the UEFA five-year country coefficient ranking spanning the 2021/22 to 2025/26 seasons with 46.750 points, finishing ahead of Denmark and Norway. This ranking guarantees that two Polish clubs will participate in the main league phase of European competitions in the 2027/28 campaign. The decision from European football's governing body formalizes entry thresholds that previously functioned as mathematical projections. Ekstraklasa SA Chief Operating Officer Marcin Stefański addressed the operational advantages for domestic clubs.

Twelfth place opens up new perspectives for us. For the first time, we are guaranteed that two Polish teams will play in the league phase of European cups. This will facilitate planning, preparations, and budgeting for the clubs that will represent Poland in European cups. It will also make it easier to construct the league schedule.

Allocation across European competitions

Under the access distribution, the Polish league champion enters the UEFA Champions League in the fourth qualifying round, also known as the play-off round. Winning this single two-legged tie qualifies the domestic champion directly into the Champions League league phase, while defeat provides a fallback into the UEFA Europa League league phase. The winner of the Polish Cup enters the UEFA Europa League in the fourth qualifying round, with elimination resulting in a guaranteed berth in the UEFA Conference League league phase. The Ekstraklasa runner-up begins in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, the third-place league team enters the second qualifying round of the Europa League, and the fourth-place team starts in the second qualifying round of the Conference League.

Domestic calendar and cup contingencies

Ekstraklasa SA sought clarification from UEFA regarding scenarios where a single club wins the Polish Cup and finishes as league runner-up, a situation that occurred previously with Górnik Zabrze. UEFA confirmed that the club will enter the Champions League second qualifying round to prioritise Europe's primary tournament, while the third-place Ekstraklasa team takes the fourth-round Europa League berth. Polish clubs enter European qualifying between 20 and 22 July 2027, followed by third-round ties on 3–5 August and play-off fixtures on 17–19 August and 24–26 August. Domestically, Ekstraklasa organizers are planning a league schedule running from 23 July 2027 to 20 May 2028 without midweek rounds, concluding before UEFA Euro 2028.

Competition adjustments and continental background

The approved UEFA calendar incorporates an extended FIFA international match window scheduled between 20 September and 5 October 2027. Format adjustments for the 2027/28 Champions League opening matchday place one fixture on Tuesday featuring the defending titleholder, nine fixtures on Wednesday, and eight on Thursday. In the Europa League fourth qualifying round, UEFA will divide participants into separate champions and league paths. UEFA also confirmed that all Russian clubs remain suspended from its competitions. The access upgrades follow a ten-year absence of Polish teams from the Champions League main stage since 2016, supported by Conference League quarter-final appearances by Legia Warsaw and Jagiellonia Białystok in 2024/25 alongside round-of-16 runs by Lech Poznań and Raków Częstochowa.