The 3-1 win over Brighton has kept Newcastle United hopes alive of European football, realistically, potential hopes of UEFA Conference League football.
The question is though, would this be good for Newcastle United?
I can already hear many fans asking why on earth wouldn’t European football be good for NUFC???
Do I suddenly think the UEFA Conference League is beneath ourselves and our club after two Champions League campaigns in three years?
That is most definitely not my thinking and instead it is a risk and reward situation for me. Weighing up the potential rewards of participation in the UEFA Conference League against the potential risks.
If Newcastle United did end up in the 2026/27 UEFA Conference League then it would mean European football, trips abroad for thousands of supporters, it would mean a chance to further improve the club’s UEFA co-efficient, it would mean NUFC generating some extra revenue.
More than anything, a realistic opportunity to win a second trophy in three seasons.
This is the fifth year of the UEFA Conference League and this is how English clubs have got on:
2021/22 Leicester knocked out in the semi-finals by eventual winners AS Roma.
2022/23 West Ham win it.
2023/24 Aston Villa lose in semi-finals to eventual winners Olympiakos.
2024/25 Chelsea win it.
2025/26 Crystal Palace set for the final having won 3-1 away in the semi-final first leg against Shakhtar Donetsk
What’s not to like?
What many fans saw as a disappointing 2023/24 Premier League season ended with Newcastle United in seventh place. That seventh place seeing Eddie Howe’s side ‘qualify’ for the Europa Conference League to play in the 2024/25 season.
However, when Manchester United shocked Manchester City in the FA Cup final, NUFC no longer had qualified status for the UEFA Conference League. Instead, Man U got a place in the Europa League through their cup win, Chelsea were knocked down to Conference level, whilst Newcastle United left with nothing in European terms.
Many Newcastle United fans were gutted that we had lost a European football place. I wasn’t.
Twelve months later the 2024/25 season ended with Newcastle United holding their first trophy in 56 years and having qualified for the Champions League due to a top five finish.
Imagine…Man City win the 2024 FA Cup final as had been expected and Newcastle United keep their UEFA Conference League place for 2024/25 due to their seventh place finish in 2023/24.
Do you honestly think that Newcastle United would still have gone on to win the 2025 League Cup final and qualify for the Champions League. Absolutely no chance, in my opinion.
The extra European matches would have been crippling.
This season Crystal Palace will play 17 UEFA Conference League matches if they get to the final.
Imagine if Eddie Howe and his players had had to cope with those extra match last season with such a relatively small squad?
More to the point, imagine if Eddie Howe and his players had to deal with up to 17 extra UEFA Conference League matches next (2026/27) season???
To have the best possible chance of bouncing back next season in the Premier League, Newcastle United need a match schedule more like Man U’s than Palace’s.
Man U will only play 40 matches in total this 2025/26 season in all competitions and find themselves third top in the Premier League currently and already having qualified for the Champions League.
If they get through to the UEFA Conference League tomorrow night, Palace will play 59 matches this season in total (one more than Newcastle…). That is despite losing to Macclesfield in the third round of the FA Cup and winning only two League Cup matches.
With no European football distractions next season, I think Newcastle United can definitely bounce back and compete for a Champions League place AND compete in the domestic cups.
With UEFA Conference League to also contend with, I think that possibility becomes far far more difficult.
For starters, Newcastle United are set to kick off their 2026/27 Premier League campaign on the weekend of Saturday 23 August 2026.
If we did make it into the competition, NUFC would have a qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League to play on Thursday 20 August and Thursday 27 August. With so many of the ties meaning travel to a far-off Eastern European destination, imagine having one of those on the Thursday a few days before Newcastle’s opening Premier League match???
If you still aren’t convinced, have a look at the current Premier League table:
As you can see, in 6th , 7th and 8th you have the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton. None of that trio having had European matches this season.
Look further down and despite their ridiculous spending, Chelsea in 9th. Newcastle United in 13th, Palace 15th, Forest 16th, Spurs 17th. All five having played so many matches in Europe this season.
Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool with their huge financial (and other) advantages still make the top four but Villa are currently the exception that proves the rule. Themselves and Newcastle United the two clubs in recent seasons who are facing such a battle to try and qualify for the Champions League, then trying to compete in it the following season AND in the Premier League.
With the Champions League, it is a no-brainer wanting to qualify for that. The prestige, the chance of glory, the excitement for the fans, the huge amounts of extra cash.
The Europa League is a competition that is also well worth qualifying for, even if it raises extra challenges for the next season’s Premier League campaign. Decent levels of prestige, chance of glory even if not at Champions League level and same story with excitement for fans, very decent amounts of extra cash.
The UEFA Conference League though, the balance is tipped, the negatives seriously outweigh the positives for me, the risks are far greater than the potential rewards.