The Europa League winners will get a place in the following season's Champions League from the 2015-16 season, a UEFA source told Reuters on Thursday.
The change will boost the prestige of UEFA's secondary competition which has become largely over-shadowed by the Champions League in terms of prize money, credibility and media coverage over the last decade.
There is already a connection between the two competitions as the eight clubs who finish third in their Champions League groups transfer into the Europa League's knock-out rounds.
This season they included last year's Champions League winners Chelsea.
Despite the initial reticence of some of Chelsea's players about competing in it, the Premier League won the competition last week by beating Benfica 2-1 in a highly competitive final in Amsterdam.