As confirmed by Psyonix over on their website, auto-qualification is coming to Rocket League, and with the North American & European Regional Championships looming, there's plenty to play for, and not just the $25,000 prize pool and a World Championship place.
The top two teams from the Euro and NA Championships, which kick off (or should that be 'get rolling') on May 6, will now automatically book their places in the Rocket League Championship Season 4. The team crowned world champions in June will also auto-qualify, unless of course they've already qualified.
It was later confirmed on Reddit that teams will have to be fairly consistent, maintaining 2/3rds of their Season 3 roster for the subsequent season, least they forfeit their place in the competition.