Spanish football has reasons to boast: it has put three teams in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Among the eight best teams in Europe, three are Spanish. There are two of the Premiertwo others from the Bundesliga and another of the Ligue 1. There is no team A league after Atlético, fourth of LaLigawill eliminate the undisputed leader of the Italian championship.
However, Italy is first in the country classification this season and Spain is fifth. The reason is simple: when making the ranking, the results of all the teams that have participated during the season in European competitions are taken into account and the points added are divided among that total number of teams, whether they are eliminated or not.
And one of the main novelties of the 2024-25 Champions League is that, beyond the format (which already has its merits), it is the extra motivation of knowing Which two federations will get an extra place for the next edition. And with the change in format and the increase in teams, The two countries that add the most points to the UEFA Ranking this season will obtain an extra ticket to the Champions League.
But… how does it work? It is very simple. These places, officially called ‘European Performance Places’, will be achieved based on the performance accumulated throughout the season in the three UEFA competitions: Champions, Europa League and Conference. To measure it, they are based on the total number of coefficient points achieved by each team in a country, divided by the number of clubs that have submitted, as established in Annex D of the UEFA regulations.
From there Points are added for victory, draw and for passing rounds. With this context, Spain is disadvantaged despite having three teams in the Champions League quarterfinals due to the early elimination of Osasuna in the Conference League qualifier or the subsequent elimination of Sevilla in the group stage of the Champions League.
This is the UEFA ranking
Punctuation system
As UEFA explains on its website, the scoring system goes like this.
- 2 points for each group stage victory (Champions, Europa League and Conference)
- 1 point for each victory in qualifying and play-off matches (Champions, Europa League and Conference)
- 1 point for each draw in the group stage (Champions, Europa League and Conference)
- 0.5 points for each draw in qualifying and play-off matches (Champions, Europa League and Conference)
- 4 bonus points for participation in the group stage of the Champions League
- 4 bonus points for participation in the Champions League round of 16
- 4 points for the Europa League group winners
- 2 points for the Europa League group runners-up
- 2 points to the Conference League group winners
- 1 point to the group runners-up of the Conference League
- 1 point for each round reached by each club since the round of 16 in the Champions and Europa League
- 1 point for each round reached by each club since the semifinals in the Conference League
No extra place for Champions
With this situation, Spain will not achieve one of the two extra tickets for the Champions League, which at the moment would go to fifth in the Italian league and fifth in the German league (Roma y Leipzig, respectively). England still has a chance of finishing in the top two.
The question that has been around in recent days is whether only the points achieved in the Champions League should be taken into account in order to achieve an extra place for the Champions League. There, Spain would have an advantage, with three quarterfinalists. But the rules are what they are and Spanish football has been penalized by the already mentioned poor performance of the second-tier teams, which in other years had gone far (victories of Sevilla y Villarreal in the Europa League).
The game is between Italy, Germany and England
According to advanced statistics and OPTA probability, Italy has it the easiest with almost 80% probability. All thanks to the good performance of their clubs in the Europa League and Conference. Right now Roma would benefit, as they would qualify fifth in Serie A.
At the same time, The Premier has cut many points from the Bundesliga despite losing to Brighton in the round of 16 of the Europa League (precisely against Roma). West Ham won the direct duel with Freiburg and OPTA rates Dortmund in the Champions League with a low percentage of success.
Everything seems to indicate that Between Italy, Germany and England there will be those two extra places for 2024-25.
Those classified for the quarterfinals of the Champions, Europa League and Conference
2024-03-15 01:59:22
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