Who will gain extra Champions League places? Premier League and Bundesliga tied

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Aston Villa and Tottenham impacted 

The race for the two extra Champions League places based on European performance is heating up. The three European club competitions have now reached the quarter-final stages and it couldn’t be any tighter between two leagues with every tie important. Italy are in pole position to secure one of the extra spots with fifth place in Serie A essentially guaranteed Champions League football next season. The Premier League and the Bundesliga, however, are locked in a battle for an extra slot with England moving level after the first two Champions League quarter-finals with Manchester City and Arsenal drawing with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The Champions League is undergoing major reconstruction ahead of next 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.

State of play in race for extra Champions League places  

Given the nature of the coefficient system, it’s incredibly likely that the two extra places based on UEFA performance will be secured by two of the top five European leagues. Across the last five seasons, only the Netherlands would’ve picked up one of the extra places after their clubs performed well in 2021-22. Historically major leagues dominate and it’s the same this season with the top five leagues occupying the top five spots but La Liga and Ligue One 1 are highly unlikely to earn one of the extra places.

Italy and Germany lead the race with England trailing 

Italy are in a strong position to claim one of the places, despite Inter Milan dropping out of the Champions League. Serie A still have three clubs left in the quarter-finals stages but the draw wasn’t great in respect to sealing that extra Champions League place. Roma and AC Milan were drawn against each other in the Europa League but Atalanta shocked Liverpool in the Europa League. It’s essentially a two horse race for the second place between Germany and England with France and Spain too far behind. The competition for the final place became even more fascinating after English and German teams were drawn against each other in the quarter-finals. Arsenal drew with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final, while Bayer Leverkusen beat West Ham. Borussia Dortmund claimed a stunning win against Atletico Madrid to ensure the Bundesliga soared ahead of the Premier League ahead of Arsenal and Man City playing tonight.

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