• Qualification would mean club's season starting on 18 July • 'I want to get there through right means' – Brendan Rodgers

Liverpool do not want a place in Europe next season via the Uefa Fair Play League, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

The Anfield club have an outside chance of securing Europa League qualification via the fair play route, whereby Uefa offer a place to the top-ranking club in each of Europe's top three fairest leagues. England currently lies fourth behind Finland, Sweden and Norway but Liverpool could be offered a place if the Premier League's position improves over the final weeks of the season.

The highest-placed teams above Liverpool in the Premier League and its fair play index – Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United – are all likely to qualify for European competition through their league placings.

Liverpool's season would start on 18 July if they entered the Europa League at the second qualifying round, and the second leg would clash with the club's lucrative pre-season tour of south-east Asia and Australia.

"It's highly unlikely we'd get that route as it is for the top three countries and we are fourth, but it is not something I would be keen on," Rodgers said. "I want to get there through the right means, through our performance level, and if we have to have a year where we are not in Europe it is going to give us an opportunity to push on."