For the longest time, there have been four Premier League teams included in the Champions League every year. It's almost always the teams that finish in the top four spots in the league that qualify, with those top four spots sought after by all the biggest clubs in the country.

The one outlier came during the 2005-06 season when Liverpool, who won the Champions League at the conclusion of the season before, finished fifth in the Premier League, so they joined the top four sides that year, giving England five teams in that iteration of the competition and with new rules set to be introduced into Europe's premier competition soon, we may be seeing more than four Premier League teams qualifying for it on a regular basis, with as many as seven potentially on the cards.

A lot would have to fall their way, but there is a specific set of circumstances that may see SEVEN different Premier League sides qualify for the Champions League, which would be far and away the most to qualify from one country in the tournament's history.

Here's how the Champions League's brand-new rules may see more than just four Premier League teams qualify for the competition in the future.

How could new rules lead to more Premier League teams qualifying?

Football is always evolving, with the relevant governing bodies always looking for ways to improve the beautiful game, and the Champions League wasn't off limits, with a revamp recently announced, with brand-new rules set to take effect this season.

With the competition's entrants expanding from 32 to 36 in a "Swiss league" format, the tournament will be handing out an extra qualification place to two different countries, who collectively performed the best in the UEFA competitions the season before.

This means that if the Premier League has one of the two best collective performances across the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League, it will be given an extra spot among the greatest tournament in club football. It seems pretty likely that England will receive an extra spot once the rule comes into effect as well, with the Premier League having one of the two best collective performances across UEFA's competitions in five of the last six seasons.

A fine example of this is just last year, when Manchester City won the Champions League while West Ham United bested Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final as well, ensuring England had one of the best collective performances, with two of the nation's clubs emerging with silverware.

If the rule had already been put in place, we'd have seen City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United qualify, as they did anyway in the top four places, but we'd have also seen Liverpool join them in the competition, despite finishing fifth.

How could seven teams qualify for the Champions League then?

With the new rules coming into place creating the opportunity for a fifth Premier League team to qualify for the Champions League, if everything falls just right, that number could rise to a mind-blowing seven teams.

As has always been the case, winning the Champions League will automatically ensure a team qualifies for the tournament, regardless of their league position that year. Liverpool and Chelsea are fine examples of a couple of clubs in the Premier League who finished outside of the top four places, but still managed to qualify for the competition, as a result of winning the whole thing in the previous season.

Chelsea finished sixth when they won the tournament in 2012, and leapfrogged both Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur to qualify for the subsequent season's competition.

When Liverpool won it, though, in 2005, they were merely added to the tournament alongside the top four, with Everton, who finished fourth, not being replaced by the Reds in a similar ilk to what happened to Spurs when Chelsea repeated the feat in 2012. Fortunately, the team has returned to a similar format as to when the Reds initially won it, with anyone winning the competition now added into the tournament, rather than replacing the side who finished fourth in the league.

Similarly, winning the Europa League ensures a club will feature in the Champions League in the next season, so there's a very real chance that if England sides win both the Champions League and the Europa League in the same year, but both sides finish outside of the top four and miss out on the qualifying places, they will be added among the other four teams, meaning there are six English clubs representing the country that year.

Factoring that in with the new rule that will reward a country with an extra space in the Champions League if it's had one of the best collective performances in UEFA competitions that year, there's a very real possibility that we may see a monumental seven English sides in the tournament at some point in the near future.

Just imagine that the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford could realistically qualify for the tournament if everything fell their way that year, which would be life-changing for both clubs. Not only that but the effect it would have on the Europa League can't be ignored. If seven Premier League sides qualified for the tournament, the clubs who make it into the Europa League would, as a result, be ones that finished lower in the table, meaning there are more opportunities for some of the league's smaller, mid-table sides making it into Europe.

Having that experience in Europe would be huge for those clubs and their players, but the financial implications would also be massive and would likely just strengthen the Premier League's position as the richest league in the entire world. Having the likes of Crystal Palace and Fulham qualifying for the Europa League and gaining that vital financial muscle could even help close the gap between the bottom half of the Premier League with the country's most elite sides.

There aren't many happy with the Champions League's new rules, but you've got to admit, it would be pretty cool to see seven teams in the competition at some point.