The race to qualification for next season’s Champions League is heating up across Europe and the battle in the Premier League appears set to be fiercely fought.
Arsenal and Manchester City are all but guaranteed places in Europe’s premier competition for 2026–27, but those below the top two are less certain of their places. Manchester United, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool are the realistic competitors for Champions League berths, yet not all of the quartet will make the cut.
Finishing in the top five is expected to be enough for Champions League qualification due to the competition’s recent reformatting, but the underperformance of English sides in the knockout phase of this year’s European competitions throws a potential spanner in the works.
Will Fifth Place in the Premier League Earn Champions League Qualification?
Following the Champions League’s expansion to 36 teams and the implementation of the so-called “Swiss model,” which introduced the league phase and knockout playoff round, there have been two extra qualification spots awarded to the nations with the highest UEFA coefficient rankings at the end of each campaign.
If England finishes as one of the two countries with the highest coefficient ranking in Europe—as they did last season—five teams as opposed to the usual four will qualify for next season’s Champions League. Those positions will be taken up by the sides that finish in the top five of England’s top tier, with direct passage to the league phase.
As things stand, England lead the UEFA coefficient table and will therefore be awarded five places, but the numbers will change between now and the campaign’s conclusion.
Coefficient scores are decided by the performance of a nation’s clubs across UEFA competition over the past five seasons, with individual results and progression to various stages of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League deciding a country’s ranking.
English clubs excelled during the league phase to boost the coefficient and have achieved strong results in recent campaigns, but their difficulties during the first leg of their European last 16 ties has negatively affected the Premier League’s chance of securing an additional performance spot in the Champions League.
2025–26 UEFA Coefficient Table
| Position | Country | Average Points | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | England | 22.847 | 205.625 |
| 2. | Spain | 18.406 | 147.250 |
| 3. | Germany | 18.142 | 127.000 |
| 4. | Italy | 17.928 | 125.500 |
| 5. | Portugal | 17.000 | 85.000 |
| 6. | France | 15.678 | 109.750 |
| 7. | Poland | 15.250 | 61.000 |
As mentioned, England currently tops the coefficient standings—and by some distance. Even with the difficulties endured in this year’s knockout phase, England should still comfortably finish in one of the top two spots in the table.
There are currently nine Premier League clubs competing across UEFA’s three competitions, although only Aston Villa won the the first leg of their last 16 tie. Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur all suffered three-goal defeats, while Liverpool and Nottingham Forest endured narrow 1–0 losses. Arsenal and Newcastle United had to accept draws.
Spain is currently second in the coefficient table and has six teams still standing on the continent, with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in strong positions to progress beyond the round of 16.
Germany and Italy are not far behind, but the latter has witnessed Inter, Juventus and Napoli exit the Champions League already, with Atalanta all but out of the competition after its 6–1 defeat to Bayern Munich. Germany is certainly more likely to usurp Spain given the impressive form of Vincent Kompany’s side.
Portugal currently outscores France in coefficient terms, the latter only narrowly ahead of Poland in the standings.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Does Fifth Place in the Premier League Get Champions League? Coefficient Tracker.
