Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The winners of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League will automatically qualify for the league phase of the following season's UEFA Champions League. If the Europa League winners have already secured a Champions League league phase spot through their domestic league, the automatic place transfers to the club with the highest individual coefficient among those in Champions League qualifying (including both champions and league paths), according to the 2024–27 competition format.
This transfer is subject to paragraph 3.04b of the official UEFA Champions League regulations, which prohibits leapfrogging unless the club is the highest-ranked domestically among those not directly qualified for the league phase. If this is not met, the place passes to the next best coefficient-ranked club.
Sporting CP, after finishing second in the Portuguese Liga (where champions qualify automatically), would normally enter Champions League qualifying. However, with a high coefficient (84.000) compared to other clubs in qualifying, they may instead receive an automatic league phase place if rebalancing is necessary.
There is precedent: when 2023/24 Europa League winners Atalanta had already qualified for the Champions League league phase, the spot was given to Benfica. In contrast, the previous season's winners Tottenham did not qualify domestically, so no rebalancing was required.