The Premier League is waiting to know if a fifth team will qualify for the Champions League next season.
The UEFA coefficient is what everyone in football is talking about. It’s not surprising, given that there is an extra spot available in next season’s Champions League.
Two leagues will gain an extra Champions League spot next season as the competition increases to 32 teams. The two leagues will be established by UEFA coefficients, which are dependent on how well teams do in European competitions.
Currently, the Bundesliga is in second place in the UEFA coefficient table. They advanced further Friday night as Bayern Munich defeated Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals, while Manchester City was also eliminated.
That makes it difficult for England to secure that extra spot at the end of the season, but not impossible. The Europa League and Europa Conference League are also involved, but things appear to be problematic there as well.
However, with Tottenham presently fifth in the Premier League, Spurs might benefit even if the Reds and Hammers are eliminated tonight.
The coefficient is calculated by awarding points to teams for victories and draws as they go through rounds of European competition, and then dividing that total by the number of teams the country has in Europe that season. This year, England had eight teams in Europe, therefore all of our collected points were divided by eight rather than seven, like Germany did.
West Ham and Liverpool can both win their games tonight and be eliminated. With two points for a win, that would be an additional four points. If Leverkusen loses, yet advances to the semi-finals, the Bundesliga will gain one point.
If Aston Villa wins and advances to the Conference League semi-finals versus Lille, they will earn two points, plus one for reaching the final four. In such case, England’s coefficient ranking would average out to 17.75, while Germany’s averaged out to 17.78, making it very close indeed.
Spurs, and possibly Villa themselves, would then be relying on Villa to go all the way and rack up coefficient points for the Premier League in the Conference League, with Bayern Munich and Leverkusen in the semi-finals of their respective competitions and no English clubs to counter.
Tottenham could really use West Ham beating Leverkusen and knocking them out tonight, while a Liverpool comeback win and qualification for the semi-finals would also be beneficial, opening the door to fifth place in the Premier League and entry into the Champions League.
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