Two leagues in Europe this season will be rewarded with an extra place in the revamped 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL) based on the record of their clubs in all of UEFA’s competitions this campaign.
That means in the case of the Premier League, as well as the top four-placed teams, the club finishing fifth could go straight into the UEFA Champions League.
But as things stand the Premier League will not receive an extra Champions League place.
After Arsenal and Manchester City were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid respectively, the Premier League has fallen into third place, behind Serie A and the Bundesliga.
That puts extra pressure on the race to finish fourth, led currently by Aston Villa, who reached the last four of the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
35 | +57 | 80 |
| 2 |
Manchester City
MCI
|
34 | +50 | 79 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
35 | +41 | 75 |
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
35 | +21 | 67 |
| 5 |
Tottenham Hotspur
TOT
|
33 | +15 | 60 |
| 6 |
Manchester United
MUN
|
34 | +1 | 54 |
| 7 |
Newcastle United
NEW
|
34 | +19 | 53 |
| 8 |
West Ham United
WHU
|
35 | -9 | 49 |
| 9 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
33 | +4 | 48 |
| 10 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
35 | -8 | 48 |
How does it work?
UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League - the association club coefficient.
Every win, no matter the competition, earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for defeat.
The further that teams progress in their competitions, additional bonus points are awarded, which are weighted according to the competition.
Champions League bonus points
Group stage - four
Round of 16 - five
Quarter-final, semi-final, final - one
Europa League bonus points
Group winners - four
Group runners-up - two
Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final, final - one
Europa Conference League bonus points
Group winners - two
Group runners-up - one
Semi-final, final - one
The points of all participating clubs are totalled and then divided by the number of clubs who started the season in UEFA competitions, to calculate the association club coefficient average.
As the UEFA competitions are in the quarter-finals here is the coefficients rank as of 23:12 BST 18 April. (UEFA)
UEFA coefficient rankings* (teams remaining)
1. Italy, 19.428 (SF 3)
2. Germany, 17.928 (SF 3)
3. England, 17.375 (SF 1)
4. France, 16.083 (SF 2)
*Source: ESPN
What is the current state of play?
Italy has secured a top two place and one of the extra places, with Germany needing just 0.488 coefficient points to seal the second place, or two wins; or a win and two draws.
England now have only one semi-finalist remaining, so Villa will have to win the UECL, and all three matches, and hope Germany completely fail in the semi-finals, to make up ground on the Bundesliga.
Read: UEFA qualification explained
If the fifth spot in the Premier League does turn into a UEFA Champions League spot, this moves the positions that qualify for the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League down the table by a place.