Chelsea have had a mixed first season under head coach Enzo Maresca, but thanks to a triumphant finish, it's one that ends with great success.
The Blues have recovered from a shaky run of Premier League form by winning four of their last five league matches, including over new champions Liverpool, to put themselves into next season's Champions League with a fourth-placed finish.
They have also secured a European title, winning the UEFA Conference League with a 4-1 victory over Real Betis in the final from Woclaw. Maresca said before the match that winning the tournament would be "a statement to say Chelsea is back" as a major player in European football.
But winning the Conference League doesn't just get you a trophy, it also earns you a place in the following season's UEFA Europa League. So, what happens now that Chelsea have won it while also having qualified for Europe through their league finish?
The Sporting News breaks down the regulations below and details what's at stake for the Blues.
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What happens after Chelsea won the Conference League?
Chelsea have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by way of their fourth-placed finish in the Premier League table.
Thus, Chelsea winning the Conference League affords them a choice when it comes to European football in 2025/26.
Either they can play in the Europa League, or they could enter the Champions League. Confused? Let us explain.
What do teams get for winning the Conference League?
The Conference League winners, along with getting a trophy and €7 million (£5.9m / $8m) in prize money, earn a qualifying spot for the following season's Europa League. They are given a bye straight into the league phase, meaning they do not need to worry about progressing through the qualifying rounds.
Things get a little more complicated if that same team also earns a place in the Champions League or Europa League through other means, i.e. winning a domestic cup — assuming the competition grants them a European place — or through their domestic league finish.
In the event that the Conference League winners qualify for the Europa League in such a way, they create a vacant slot in the Europa League (since they can't qualify twice). That vacancy "is filled by the club with the highest individual club coefficient of all the clubs that qualify for the main path or playoffs of the Europa League", according to UEFA rules.
The club that fills that vacancy "must be either the domestic cup winner or the highest domestically ranked club from its association that has not already qualified for the league phase of the competition directly".
If the Conference League winners qualify for the Champions League through their league finish, they are given the choice of playing in either next season's Champions League or Europa League. This is now the, er, dilemma facing Chelsea at the end of 2024/25.
Clearly, it's extremely unlikely that a team would choose the Europa League over the glamour and riches of the Champions League. Assuming Chelsea choose to play in the Champions League, this would mean the vacancy they leave in the Europa League needs filling again. In that case, we go back to the rule about the best-ranked club taking their place, as per UEFA's guidelines.
Have Chelsea qualified for the Champions League?
We know that the top five in the Premier League this season qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League.
Chelsea survived a tight and hotly contested top five race, finishing fourth thanks to a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on the final day of the Premier League season.
Chelsea had arguably the most difficult final three games of those teams in the top-five race. They faced fourth-place Newcastle United next, host Manchester United on May 16, and travel to sixth-place Nottingham Forest on the final day.
Yet they managed to see it out, and qualified for the Champions League, where they will almost certainly play.
MORE: Breaking down the EPL's race for European qualification