Which European leagues are in line for extra Champions League spots?

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Coefficient points 

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European competition returned after five week hiatus across the festive period with a thrilling matchday seven and the race for the two extra Champions League places is heating up. Two nations will be awarded an extra place for the biggest club competition in the world based on their clubs’ performances in Europe this season. Last season, Serie A and the Bundesliga gained an extra Champions place last season with Bologna and Borussia Dortmund the clubs rewarded.

The Champions League underwent major reconstruction ahead of this season’s competition with the group stages replaced by a 36-team league – with four additional places. Two of those slots will be handed to clubs with the highest UEFA coefficient, who miss out on qualification and the other two will be awarded to the best performing leagues in this season’s European competitions – Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. Those leagues will be decided by the average coefficient points; calculated by accumulating the total coefficient points collected per nation then divided by the number of competing clubs. Coefficient points are awarded based on results – two for a win, one for a draw and zero for a defeat – and they remain the same across all three competitions. Bonus points, however, are also assigned based on progression to each stage and that’s ranked by competition.

The League phase of the Europa Conference League has already been completed with bonus points awarded to clubs securing qualification to the knockout stages. With just one matchday remaining in the Champions League and Europa League – plus bonus points to be awarded in those competitions – and it should become really clear by March which leagues will gain those places.

But as it stands, England are in an extremely strong position with the Premier League likely to receive five Champions League places next season. They are comfortably ahead of the other competing nations with Italy in second place. The top six counties, however, still have all their clubs left in European competition – only the Premier League are on track to retain their full quota of clubs – and the standings could change considerably when bonus points by the end of the league phases.