The race for five places in next season’s Champions League.
Two leagues will be rewarded with an extra place in next season’s Champions League based on performance in Europe this season, all part of the revamp to expand it to a 36-team competition — but who is likely to benefit?
With the knockout stages of the Champions League (UCL), Europa League (UEL) and Europa Conference League (UECL) under way, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of which leagues could get the two places.
That said, we’re still a long way from finding out who is going to get an extra spot — and it could yet go down to the wire.
This article will be updated throughout the season to track the race for the extra spots.
How does it work?
It’s about the best average coefficient of all teams taking part in Europe for each country. The two leagues with the best score get an extra place.
Each win is worth two coefficient points, a draw gets you one, and you get nothing for a defeat.
There are also bonus points for getting to certain stages, which help give extra prominence to those teams who do well in the higher-profile competitions.
Champions League bonus points
4 – Group stage participation
5 – Round of 16
1 – QF, SF, final
Europa League bonus points
4 – Group winners
2 – Group runners-up
1 – Round of 16, QF, SF, final
Europa Conference League bonus points
2 – Group winners
1 – Group runners-up
1 – SF, final
The points gained by all clubs are added together, and that total score is divided by the number of clubs a country has in Europe in the season. That gives the coefficient average.
For example, if a country has 35 coefficient points and seven teams in Europe, its score is 5.00 for the table (35 / 7 = 5.00.)
So wins aren’t worth more in the Champions League?
No, the coefficient system is designed to assess the overall strength of leagues. Wins are the same in all competitions, otherwise it would be impossible for those leagues with few or no teams in the UCL group stage to move up the coefficient ranking.
The bonus points serve two purposes: firstly, to give weight to the strength of the competitions on a sliding scale, and second to provide points to those teams taking part in the UCL who might get few positive results.
In fact, it could be argued that it’s better for leagues to have some teams drop down into the UEL for the knockout rounds. Bonus points might be lower in the UEL, but each two-legged tie has five points up for grabs (four for the result and one for progressing to the next round). If a team stays in the UCL, they might not get past the round of 16 and have little chance of adding to the country’s coefficient through wins.
Won’t this just turn out to be extra places for two top leagues?
If we look back at the previous five seasons, England and Spain take seven of the 10 slots, with Italy and Germany one each. Only in 2021-22 did one of the countries with fewer than four teams in the Champions League (the Netherlands) finish in the top two of average coefficient.
So yes, history tells us that it’s highly likely two of the top leagues will have five places in next season’s Champions League.
