The Premier League is on course to gain an extra UEFA Champions League spot for a second consecutive season, with the top FIVE Premier League teams potentially qualifying instead of the traditional top four.
Last season, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle United all secured places in the 2025/26 Champions League after getting top-five finishes in the Premier League, while Tottenham Hotspur joined them by winning the UEFA Europa League.
See: How Premier League clubs qualify for Europe
That was the first time ever that five Premier League clubs all qualified via their league position, and a repeat is certainly now possible due to England (the Premier League) having a commanding lead at the top of UEFA's coefficient table, which measures how clubs from each country perform across European competitions this season.
If England stays in the top two, which looks promising, the team who finish fifth in the Premier League would go straight into the Champions League again in 2026/27.
How does UEFA's coefficient table work?
UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded with the extra European Performance Spot by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League, and then dividing those points by the number of clubs from each league who STARTED this season in a European competition.
It means the various leagues are competing against each other in a ranking called the "association club coefficient".
Every win for a club in any of UEFA's club competitions this season earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for a defeat.
On top of that, bonus points are awarded according to where each club finishes in their European league table. These are weighted according to the competition.
For example, finishing top of the table in the Champions League gets you 12 bonus points, while the equivalent position in the Europa League gets six, and the top team in the Conference League earn four points.
Arsenal have finished top of this season's Champions League league phase table so they have earned the maximum number of bonus points. Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City have all secured double-digit bonus points too, courtesy of finishing in the top eight, while Newcastle (12th) have earned 9.25 points.
Additional bonus points are awarded for reaching each round from the last 16 onwards. These are also weighted according to the competition.
Bonus points added per round
| Competition | Bonus points |
|---|---|
| Champions League | 1.5 |
| Europa League | 1.0 |
| Conference League | 0.5 |
The Premier League is in a strong position this season as it not only had the most teams in European competition at the start, with nine (six in the Champions League, two in the Europa League, one in the Conference League), but it is also the only domestic league with all of its teams still active.
What are the standings?
England currently leads the way at the top of the table and also has five teams through to the Champions League round of 16, with Newcastle in contention to join them through the playoff round.
For context, no other nation has more than one club already through to the last 16.
With Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest going well in the Europa League, and Crystal Palace through to the Conference League knockout stage, all nine Premier League clubs are still competing in Europe.
By contrast, two of Spain's eight European teams have been eliminated after the league phase, and one club from each of Germany, Italy and Portugal have also failed to qualify for the latter stages.
Here is the coefficients rank as of 22:21 GMT on 29 January.
UEFA coefficient rankings*
| Association | Ave. pts | Clubs at start/remaining | Total pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 20.958 | 9/9 | 188.625 |
| Portugal | 16.600 | 5/4 | 83.000 |
| Germany | 16.214 | 7/6 | 113.500 |
| Spain | 15.531 | 8/6 | 124.250 |
| Italy | 15.500 | 7/6 | 108.500 |
*Source: UEFA; as of 29 January. Scroll across to see full table