The Premier League were the beneficiaries of an extra Champions League place last season thanks to their club’s performance in European competition.
Tottenham’s Europa League win, Chelsea’s Conference League triumph, and the presence of Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool in the round of 16 and beyond – including the Gunner reaching the semi-finals – helped England take one of the two extra spots available to continental football’s best-performing nations.
Poland rise to top in race for extra Champions League place…for now
Arsenal are top of the Champions League table at the moment (Image credit: Getty Images)UEFA keeps a running total of the average coefficient points for the season on its website, and there’s a surprising new leader in the clubhouse.
Poland has leapt to the top of the rankings, with England in second, Germany third, Cyprus fourth, Italy fifth and Spain sixth.
Rakow Czestochowa are among Poland’s four Conference League representatives (Image credit: Getty Images)Pole position (hoho) was secured on Thursday night thanks to Legia Warsaw, Rakow Czestochowa and Lech Poznan all winning in the Conference league, while Jagiellonia Bialystok drew away to AZ.
Legia have now exited the competition after finishing 28th in the Conference League table, but Rakow are into the round of 16 while Poznan and Jagiellonia are in the round of 32.
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Poland do not have any sides competing in the Champions League or Europa League this season.
That is part of the reason that Poland have leapt to the top of the table, but also makes it unlikely they will stay there thanks to the way the coefficients are calculated.
Doing well in the Champions League gets you more points than performing in the Europa League or Conference League (Image credit: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)At a base level, each club gets two points for a win in UEFA club competitions, one point for a draw, and nothing for a loss.
Additional points are awarded for each club’s position in the league phase of the three competitions, which are weighted according to the competition. Finishing top of the Champions League nets 12 bonus points, for instance, while the Europe League leaders get six and the Conference League table-toppers get four.
From there, additional bonus points are given out for each new stage of the competition a club reaches from the last 16 onwards: 1.5 points per round for the Champions League, 1 per round for the Europa League, and half a point for the Conference League.
Every country’s rankings are added up and then divided by the number of participants – so there is no special advantage to England for having six Champions League entrants this season instead of the usual four.
Chelsea lifted the Conference League last season (Image credit: Getty Images)The Conference League is the only one of the three competitions that plays six league phase games; the Champions League and Europa League both play eight.
That means that while the big five leagues will all get further opportunities to put points on the board in the league phase both through their results and their final league placement, Poland will be stuck on the current total at least until the Conference League round of 32 is completed.
The Premier League finished top of the coefficient table last season, earning themselves the coveted extra Champions League place, alongside Germany.
Tottenham’s Europa League victory meanwhile earned England yet another place in the Champions League.
