England is the favourite to win extra place in next year’s UCL
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) gives every domestic league a fixed number of places to qualify for the tournament every season. However, it awards two domestic leagues extra places, allowing them to have more participants to represent their association. The English Premier League (EPL) is leading the race to win these extra places for 2026 UCL.
It’s not final and there’s still a lot of time until UEFA declares the winners. Other candidates include the Italian Serie A, the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, and the French Ligue 1 in that order. There is still a lot of work to be done with Italy and Spain having the best chance to overcome England’s lead.
Factors to decide which league wins the extra place
To keep up with these events, it’s important to know what factors the UEFA consider to decide the winner of these extra places. Here are some of them and how they impact the association’s participation in the UCL:
UEFA coefficient standing
The UEFA coefficient ranking is the easiest metric to follow because it is updated live and the chart is publicly available on the main website. As of writing, the points of each association club coefficients are as follows:
- England – 106.624
- Italy – 93.418
- Spain – 89.381
- Germany – 83.956
- France – 70.22
The coefficient standing takes records of all clubs’ performances in every European competition. That includes the currently ongoing UCL as well as other tournaments like the Europa League, Conference League, and Super Cup.
Extra bonus points system in the UCL
The 2024/25 UCL has a revamped bonus point system where the clubs’ performance in the ongoing UCL contributes to their chances to win the extra place. Spain has a troubled start in the 2024/25 season with AC Milan, Atalanta, and Juventus losing in the knockout play-off. However, Real Madrid earned a big win when they defeated Manchester City.
England still has plenty of opportunities to widen their lead having Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Liverpool still in the Round of 16. Italy only has Inter Milan left to represent them while Spain still has Atletico, Barcelona, and Real Madrid in the race.
How’s England doing in the race for an extra UCL place?
The EPL still has 3 participants in the UCL Round of 16 including Liverpool, Arsenal, and Aston Villa. All of them are heavy hitters and are among the top 5 favourites for the 2024/25 Champions League trophy.
Probable hurdles they can face in the last stage of the UCL include Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona. Don’t miss their eventual head-to-head in the UCL because their meets will be a deciding factor in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 UCL seasons.
Related Tags:
