The Premier League is likely to gain an extra Champions League spot due to Thursday night’s results in Europe affecting UEFA’s coefficient rankings.
Italy They are currently leading UEFA’s coefficient table and are expected to secure one of the two European Performance Spots available.
England Germany are competing with another country for the final spot, and with West Ham, Liverpool, Brighton and Aston Villa all winning their matches, England’s score received a significant boost on Thursday.
Germany still have Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter finals following their comeback against Qarabag. However, all three teams would need to progress further in Europe to prevent Germany from being overtaken by England in UEFA’s coefficient table.
How does this system work?
In the 2024/25 Champions League campaign, the tournament will expand to 36 teams, with two additional places to be filled by 'European Performance Spots' based on the associations' coefficient by their clubs in Europe this season. This means fifth place in the Premier League would also qualify.
The best collective performance of clubs in Europe this season determines which associations receive the 'European Performance Spots.' The Premier League, which already gets four Champions League spots, would see fifth place qualify as well.
English clubs have had a rather poor performance this season, with both Manchester United and Newcastle being eliminated in the group stages of the Champions League. Additionally, their Europa League and Europa Conference League representatives missed out on additional coefficient points by qualifying as group winners and skipping the Play-Off round.
Wins are rewarded with two coefficient points, a draw with one point, and nothing for a defeat. There are also bonus points for participating at various stages of the competitions. The total is then divided by the number of clubs an association has competing in Europe to create a coefficient average.
The current UEFA coefficient table…
After the Europa League and Europa Conference League results on March 14, UEFA’s coefficient table appears as follows…
Italy | Teams remaining in Europe: 4/7 | Maximum coefficient score: 23.285
Italy remains in a strong position despite Napoli and Inter’s exits from the Champions League, as AC Milan, Atalanta, and Roma are still in the Europa League, with Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League.
Germany | Teams remaining in Europe: 3/7 | Maximum coefficient score: 21.214
Germany’s chances of holding onto second place in UEFA’s coefficient table suffered a setback as Freiburg were eliminated from the Europa League by West Ham.
The Bundesliga still has three strong representatives remaining in Europe: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen.
England | Teams left in Europe: 5 out of 8 teams left, with a highest score of 23.250
England seems set to surpass Germany in UEFA’s coefficient ranking after performing well in Europe this week.
Arsenal and Manchester City are into the Champions League quarter finals, while West Ham and Liverpool are in the last eight of the Europa League.
Aston Villa also beat Ajax 4-0 to reach the Europa Conference League quarter final.
France | Teams left in Europe: 3 out of 6 teams left, with a highest score of 20.750
Paris Saint-Germain is the only team from France in the Champions League, while Marseille is in the last eight of the Europa League.
In the Europa Conference League, Lille have reached the quarter final.
Spain | Teams left in Europe: 3 out of 8 teams left, with a highest score of 17.812
Spain will need to perform well in the Champions League to have a chance of overtaking France, England, and Germany for second place in the UEFA coefficient ranking.
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona are the three remaining hopefuls from Spain in the Champions League.
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