Are Premier League clubs flat-track bullies in Europe?

Two seasons, 21 knockout ties, 21 victories. That is the Premier League's dominance of the Europa League and the Conference League.

Premier League teams have lost two ties - but both to another English club.

Is this just English football enjoying a period of success?

Or does it suggest a trend whereby its financial power is now too much for European clubs outside the elite?

Football has always moved in cycles, whether that's England in the early 1980s, Italy in the 1990s or Spain in the 2010s.

This feels different, as though it is too easy for the Premier League teams. That the format is almost weighted in their favour, creating easier paths to the knockout rounds.

But when you look at the Champions League the reverse is almost true.

Are Premier League clubs now just flat-track bullies who can beat those with fewer resources but cannot transfer that into Champions League success?

As La Liga began to take control of European club football 15 years ago, it was lauded as shaping how football was played, its tactics and style.

But when Premier League clubs enjoy a period of success, it tends to be met with a certain snarkiness.

After all, with the huge riches available to Premier League clubs through the massive broadcasting deals, surely it should be way ahead of the rest?

The explosion of the international television rights over the past decade has taken Premier League onto another level.

The league earns more than £1.37bn a season, a figure the rival top five leagues could only dream of.

La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 are estimated to match that figure - but combined together. The Spanish league, at around £780m, takes up the lion's share.

While the TV cash is part of the story, it is not all of it. No Premier League club appears at the summit of the 2026 Deloitte Money League..

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain sit in the top four places.

But outside of that, the top 30 is all about the Premier League - Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur fill the rest of the top 10.

Fifteen of the 20 Premier League clubs appear, and it's been a similar story for several years.

Brighton are 23rd, Everton in 24th even before the revenues of the Hill Dickinson Stadium kick in, Bournemouth sit in 26th despite having a ground which holds just 11,000 fans, Wolves appear in 29th with Brentford in 30th.

Each season the gap to clubs in every other league grows that little bit wider. It gets harder for them to compete, and the inequality grows.

The Conference League was introduced to give more teams the chance to play proper European football, rather than be eliminated in knockout rounds.

But Uefa had a problem. It needed a format which would also attract broadcast revenues, so it required teams from Europe's top five leagues.

Yet the collective financial power of the Premier League is too great. It dwarves the revenues of a team from the other top five leagues.

Take this season's finals.

Crystal Palace have revenues of £197m, almost four times that of Rayo Vallecano (£52m). It should be no surprise they won the final 1-0.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Sport that even Championship clubs Leeds, Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton generated more revenue than Rayo Vallecano in 2024-25.

"Palace won the Conference League with revenues that will far exceed that of any other club in the competition," Maguire said.

"When Chelsea won it in 2024-25, the cost of their squad was higher than that of the other 35 teams in the competition added together."

That English clubs have won three of the first five editions of the Conference League should therefore be no surprise. Nor that the top five leagues have supplied eight of the 10 finalists.

Financially, the Europa League was a complete mismatch too.

Aston Villa, with revenues of £392m, up against Bundesliga club Freiburg's £141m - just over a third of the Premier League club. Villa eased to a 3-0 victory.

"Freiburg's revenue was below that of every single Premier League club," Maguire said.

The Premier League will now look to Arsenal to complete the set, and become only the second league since Italy in 1989-90 to do a clean sweep of all three trophies.

But it has not been so easy in the Champions League.

The new format of the three European competition has proved perfect, with Premier League clubs enjoying deeper squads.

Five of England's six clubs finished in the top eight of this season's Champions League table.

Arsenal beat Bayern Munich, Chelsea defeated Barcelona, while both Liverpool and Manchester City won against Real Madrid.

Yet when it comes to the knockout rounds of Europe's premier competition, a different picture emerges - one which only serves to underline how finances are now driving success more and more.

Over the past two campaigns, eight of nine English teams have been knocked out by one of the Deloitte Money League's big four.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle and Liverpool were eliminated by an aggregate score of 25-6 this season.

Premier League clubs are finding the Europa League and the Conference League easy, but they cannot get past the very best clubs in the Champions League.

Arsenal reached Saturday's final by beating Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atletico Madrid.

To win the trophy the Gunners, who did eliminate Real Madrid last season, must defeat PSG - one of the Deloitte Money League's big four.

The Premier League will move to new financial rules in July, called squad cost ratio.

It is designed to ensure competition for European places but allowing those who do not qualify to spend more money.

The nine teams in Europe can only spend 70% of their revenue on their squad, per Uefa's rule.

For the other 11, it starts at 85% but could potentially go as high as 115%.

Uefa sees this as a problem. It fears clubs in Europe will have to spend more to sign players and to keep those they already have.

Take Bournemouth's signing of Rayan from Vasco de Gama in January, breaking the Brazilian club's transfer record in the process.

In March he made his Brazil debut, and this month he was named in his country's squad for the World Cup.

This was the kind of signing that you would have expected Juventus, Inter Milan or AC Milan to make, bringing a 19-year-old over to Europe as one of the Selecao's brightest prospects.

Now such is the spending power of the Premier League, a club like Bournemouth can offer more money than the old guard - and provide a clear stepping stone for future development as seen by Dean Huijsen's move to Real Madrid.

"It's indicative of the gulf that exists," Maguire added. "To a certain extent, it's testament to the enthusiasm for football in the UK. We've seen increased attendances on a regular basis because the sport is so dominant.

"A significant proportion of overseas players are now choosing to play in England than elsewhere in Europe because of the wages on offer."

These players are no longer always looking at Italy or Spain, now it's often Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford.

And it is these clubs, backed by the Premier League millions, who are filling the secondary competitions.

The Europa League looks to be a stronger competition next season, however. AC Milan, Juventus and Benfica are also inside the Deloitte top 20, while Bayer Leverkusen offer clear pedigree.

Sunderland and Bournemouth will be in the competition, joined by Palace as Conference League winners. It will present a real test of the Premier League's dominant position and its financial power.

But Brighton will be by far the richest team in the Conference League and will be the clear favourites to win it.

Just do not expect the Premier League to brush teams aside so easily in the Champions League.