Relegation has nothing to do with it; in 2007, Dunfermline were relegated from the Scottish Premier league but played in Europe because they qualified through losing the Scottish Cup final to Celtic, who also won the SPL that year and thus qualified for the CL. Well that's unfortunate. I figured that situation had happened before but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the info. Is related bizarre news, Russian second division side Alaniija Vladikavkaz has secured a place in Europe without scoring a single goal. They have reached the Russian Cup final after drawing every single game of every round 0-0 after extra time and advancing every time on a penalty shoot-out. As their opponents in the final (CSKA Moscow) are already assured of a CL place, they thus qualified for the Europa league.