Bizarre situation means Bundesliga club may have to lose final game of season to qualify for Champions League

Eintracht Frankfurt may have to lose their last game of the season in order to qualify for the Champions League in a bizarre potential twist to the conclusion of the German top flight's campaign.

Dino Toppmoller's side currently sit in sixth place in the Bundesliga, and need five points from their final three games to ensure that they will finish in that position.

They are currently on course to qualify for the Europa League, and are set to be the sole German team to qualify for the competition.

That is because Germany, through their clubs' performances in European competition this season and co-efficient ranking, have earned an additional spot in next season's Champions League.

🇮🇹 Italy and 🇩🇪 Germany are the Top 2 of this years coefficient race! They will both get a bonus Champions League ticket for next season.

🇩🇪 Germany is on track to beat their best EVER European season in terms of coefficients (19/20) by a full point. pic.twitter.com/TgLvXjji14

— Nils Mackay (@NilsMackay) May 3, 2024

That means that the top five teams from this season's Bundesliga - Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund - will qualify for the competition, with Frankfurt unable to catch any of them.

But the complication comes in due to Dortmund's progression in the Champions League. Should they beat PSG in the semi-final and then win the competition, they will automatically qualify as holders.

If Dortmund win the competition, they would still join the other four teams above as part of the five teams representing German football - except in one specific scenario.

Rules state that if Dortmund finish fifth in the Champions League and win this year's competition, the extra qualification spot for next season goes to the sixth-placed team - currently set to be Frankfurt.

As a result, Frankfurt need the above two scenarios to happen in order to reach the Champions League. But coincidentally, they can play a major role in getting themselves over the line - by losing a match.

Frankfurt host Leipzig on the final day of the campaign, and may need to lose to their visitors to ensure that Leipzig finish ahead of Dortmund in fourth.

But both Leipzig and Dortmund are within touching distance of Stuttgart in third, who still need to gain three points to ensure they finish ahead of Dortmund.

The Champions League final takes place on June 1 - two weeks after the conclusion of the Bundesliga season - meaning that we won't know which teams get the final qualification spot from the Bundesliga until then.