Liverpool F.C. 2005–06 UEFA Champions League qualification

Liverpool F.C. qualified for the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League by a special dispensation from UEFA. The Premier League was allocated four places in the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League season as of right. UEFA allowed Liverpool to compete as champions of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, but would not allocate an extra place. The selection of the four clubs to enter the Champions League was the decision of the Football Association (FA). The FA's rule was that the first four in the final English Premier League table would enter the Champions League. The FA were firm on this ruling, awarding the fourth and final English place in the competition to Liverpool's local rivals Everton F.C., since Everton finished fourth in the 2004–05 FA Premier League. Liverpool had finished fifth in the table. The public reaction to this decision prompted UEFA to make a one-off exception for Liverpool to enter the tournament, as the winners of the Champions League had traditionally entered the tournament the next season to defend the title, while also keeping Everton's spot which gave English teams five places for the 2005–06 Champions League. UEFA amended the qualification criteria for the Champions League winner to enter the subsequent tournament to prevent a recurrence.

England’s high country coefficient allowed the maximum number of teams (four) to be entered into the Champions League competition. In the 2004–05 season, five English teams had qualified under the previous UEFA guidelines for the competition: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton, who had finished in the top four places in the Premier League; and Liverpool, who had won the Champions League. The choice of which team to be excluded (either fourth-placed finishers Everton or Champions League winners Liverpool) fell to the Football Association (FA), which was given this authority by the version of Champions League Regulation 1.03 then in force:

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