The two leagues currently on course to earn extra Champions League spot
- 2024/25 Champions League to be reformatted and include 36 teams
- Of four additional spots available, two will go to leagues with best European performers
- Serie A and Bundesliga currently holding off Premier League challenge
The Premier League is on course to miss out on a fifth Champions League qualifying berth, with Serie A and Bundesliga currently ranking higher in UEFA's association club coefficients system.
That would mean that fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur, at the time of writing, would compete in next season's Europa League, with Bologna and RB Leipzig the two sides from Italy and Germany who would be elevated into the top tier of European competition.
Four additional spots are available for the 2024/25 edition of the Champions League, which will see the competition reformatted into a new 36-team league format.
Two of the four places available are based on a country's coefficient ranking - a system that rewards the best collective performance by clubs in UEFA men's club competitions - and these slots are known as the 'European Performance Spots'.
An additional two places are up for grabs - one to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the access list (France), and a fifth spot (up from four) from teams who come through the champions path of the qualifying phase - that consists of three qualifying rounds and the play-offs.
The current co-efficient system ranks Italy on 103,000 points from seven clubs participating in Europe, averaging out at 14.714. Germany score 97,500 from seven teams, averaging 13,928, while England rank third with a 111,000 coefficients points total (from eight clubs participating in European competition) to average 13,875. Spain and France trail in fourth and fifth places.
Full breakdown of 36 spots available for 2024/25 Champions League
Route / Qualify from | Places Available |
|---|---|
2023/24 Champions League winner | 1 |
2023/24 Europa League winner | 1 |
England, Spain, Germany, Italy | 4 (x4) |
France | 3 |
Netherlands | 2 |
Portugal, Belgium, Scotland, Austria | 1 (x4) |
European Performance Spots | 2 |
Qualifying rounds - champions path | 5 |
Qualifying rounds - league path | 2 |
Total | 36 |
Things could still change, depending on how clubs from each country perform in the latter stages of this year's Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are in the last 16 of the Champions League - with each expected to progress to the quarter-finals - but Manchester United's group stage exit, which saw them finish bottom of a group containing Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen, had a damaging effect on England's coefficient ranking.
Liverpool are one of the favourites to win the Europa League, while West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion are also into the knockout stages after progressing through the groups.
Aston Villa, who are currently fourth in the Premier League and occupying a Champions League berth, are still in the Conference League and have been tipped by many to reach this year's final in Athens.
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