The English Premier League has missed out on a bonus fifth Champions League place in next season's revamped and expanded competition.
Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 win against Paris Saint-Germain in their semi-final first leg on Wednesday confirmed Germany would join Italy in being granted an extra berth.
The fifth spots were based on performances from each country this season in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League and averaged out by Uefa.
Aston Villa were England's only remaining team in Europe by advancing to the semi-finals of the Conference League. But even if it goes on to win the competition, Villa cannot amass enough points for England to overtake Germany, which still has two teams in the Champions League and one in the Europa League.
Dortmund's win took Germany's average points total to 18.357. The most England could amass is 18.25.
It means three-time European Cup winners Manchester United will miss out on next season's Champions League, likely increasing the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
Aston Villa and Tottenham — competing for fourth place in the Premier League — also know there will be no back door entry to the biggest stage in Europe.
Uefa's ranking system gives points for each game a team wins or draws in European competition, with bonuses attached to advancing to different stages.
Since 2005, England would have qualified for a fifth place in the Champions League in 14 of 19 seasons. And despite having finalists in five of the past six editions, English teams' disappointing performances this season have wrecked their chances of an extra place.
Manchester United and Newcastle failed to advance from the group stage, and Manchester City's quarter-final loss to Real Madrid was the defending champions' earliest exit from the competition in four years.
In the Europa League, Liverpool were surprisingly eliminated by Atalanta in the quarterfinals.
In contrast, German teams have excelled. Bayern Munich and Dortmund were through to the semi-finals of the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen into the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, guaranteed a place in next season's Champions League by beating PSG.
Roma are currently fifth in Italy. France, in fourth, have also seen their slim hopes of leapfrogging Germany ended.
The Champions League is expanding from 32 to 36 teams next season to allow for a new league phase that will replace the existing group stage.
Via a seeding system, teams will be drawn to play against eight opponents home and away in one league format.
The top eight teams will advance to the round-of-16. Teams that finish from ninth to 24th will face a two-leg playoff in order to advance.
United's plight
Manchester United have work to do in the transfer market in the close season if they are to get back to their best, manager Erik ten Hag said on Thursday.
United are sixth in the Premier League standings with 54 points, 13 fewer than fourth-placed Aston Villa and six below Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place. The Old Trafford side have four matches left in the league season.
Ten Hag flagged that United had suffered an alarming number of injuries, but they would still need new recruits after falling short of expectations. "(There's) always a lot of work, it's normal when you go into a transfer window, but the injuries had a big impact," Ten Hag told reporters on Thursday.
"We know also we are still below the levels from the expectations Man United has so we have to catch up and I'm now going into my fifth window — two windows quite okay, two we missed — so we have to make new improvements to the squad.
"But here is a base of this squad that is very good."
Ten Hag said he was happy to see Jadon Sancho, who is on loan from United at Borussia Dortmund, thrive.
The 24-year-old winger produced a fine performance in Dortmund's 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against PSG on Wednesday.
"So let's say this: yesterday he played very good," Ten Hag said.
