A record-busting nine Premier League sides will be in Europe next season.

Six – another record – will compete in the UEFA Champions League, two in the UEFA Europa League and one in the UEFA Conference League.

Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers often treat European involvement with a degree of trepidation.

From midweek injuries and rotation in the subsequent Gameweek to patchy post-Europe records like Aston Villa’s in 2024/25, it can cause headaches.

With that in mind, here’s when all nine of the top-flight clubs begin their European campaigns in 2025/26. We also cast our minds back to what went before, team-selection-wise, in 2024/25.

*Crystal Palace are currently one of those sides slated to be involved in Europe. Should UEFA deem that the Eagles break their multi-ownership rules, then Brighton and Hove Albion could be the beneficiaries. Albion would enter the Conference League, with Nottingham Forest promoted to the Europa League.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

LIVERPOOL, ARSENAL, MANCHESTER CITY, CHELSEA, NEWCASTLE UNITED, TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

For these six clubs, we have nothing to worry about before the September international break.

The European competition commences after Gameweek 4.

Arne Slot, Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta oversaw their clubs’ Champions League campaigns in 2024/25, so there should be no huge shocks.

The likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Gabriel Magalhaes and Erling Haaland were all rotation-proof on either side of Champions League ties. Bukayo Saka was just that in the group stage, too, with any minute management only coming after his return from a long-term injury and with the Premier League title race all but over.

Rotation from Slot typically came at left-back, in central midfield and alongside Salah. Arteta tinkered with his frontline options to accompany Saka. With Guardiola, it was the usual game-to-game tactical stuff that happened at any time during the season. Low block? You need players who are skilled in tight spaces, like Phil Foden. Up against a dangerous side in transition and requiring ‘control’? That’s where the likes of Bernardo Silva typically come to the fore. Less fatigue-led, more opposition-led.

As for Chelsea, we likely won’t have it as straightforward as we did in 2024/25. Then there was clear lineation: an XI for the Conference League, an XI for the Premier League. Cole Palmer wasn’t even in the European squad for the first half of last season. Now, you’d think Enzo Maresca will blood a lot more of his regulars on the continent. From Noah and Shamrock Rovers to sides like Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

Eddie Howe has overseen a campaign in the Champions League before, of course. He kept much the same side at home and abroad in 2023/24; great for line-up predictability, not good in the long run for injuries and fatigue. How much he’ll be able to rotate in 2025/26 may hinge on summer transfer movement, and it’s been pretty quiet so far.

The great unknown is Thomas Frank. He’s never managed a club in a European group stage before, let alone a side in the Champions League. We loved Frank for his teamsheet reliability at Brentford, but it’s uncertain how he’ll juggle commitments at home and abroad. Tottenham Hotspur have one of the better opening schedules, too, so their players will be Fantasy targets from the get-go.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

ASTON VILLA, CRYSTAL PALACE

One of the key lessons from Aston Villa’s 2024/25 campaign was that Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans were, in Unai Emery’s eyes, undroppable. They started all 12 of Villa’s Champions League ties, and every single Premier League match on either side. Ezri Konsa was mostly Mr Dependable at the back, too, bar one Gameweek 31 benching ahead of a PSG clash.

With the Europa League being a ‘lesser’ competition (even though Emery’s track record suggests that he takes it very seriously), there may be easier ways of managing loads on the continent this season, too.

Like Frank, Oliver Glasner is entering into new territory with Palace – so long as UEFA permit them to do so. Unlike Frank, Glasner does actually have European experience on his CV with Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg.

We perhaps got a glimpse into what could happen next season towards the end of 2024/25. Palace were juggling Double Gameweeks and FA Cup latter stages, playing midweek after midweek at one point. Glasner tried to pick his strongest side wherever possible but there were managed minutes for Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr on occasion.

Glasner, however, has still never benched Daniel Munoz in any competition…

UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Finally, the team that will be in European action before any other English club.

Nottingham Forest have a Conference League double-header on either side of Gameweek 2. It’s probably going to be against a minnow (Chelsea got Servette last season), so it may not require the A team. Nevertheless, it’s a consideration ahead of Gameweek 1.

The good news: the plum double-header against Burnley and Sunderland, in Gameweeks 5 and 6, shouldn’t be affected. Forest’s first group stage match will be on the Thursday before Gameweek 7, when their fixtures take an unfavourable turn anyway. A good hopping-off point, perhaps, then.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s last European campaign was in 2021/22 with Spurs but it barely started before he was sacked. Still, there were encouraging signs for owners of Forest assets in FPL: Nuno basically played the B team in Europe before getting the boot.