Fifth Champions League place? Bavaria expands German lead

As of: April 17, 2024 11:47 p.m

In the race for an additional place in the Champions League, the Bundesliga’s chances are increasing: Bayern Munich’s victory over Arsenal brought valuable points, Manchester City was eliminated – now Leverkusen is in demand.

Starting next season, the two countries whose clubs performed best together in the current season will each receive an additional place in the Champions League. The basis is a one-year UEFA ranking list. Italy is clearly leading this table and is almost guaranteed a fifth place in the Champions League. Behind it there is a duel between Germany and England – and the chances for the Bundesliga continue to increase.

Season rankings of the countries 2023/24 place country points clubs

1

Italy

18,428

7

2

Deutschland

17,643

7

3 England 16,875 8 4 Spain 15,312 8 5 France 15,250 6 6 Belgium 13,600 5 7 Czech Republic 13,500 4 8 Turkey 11,500 4 9 Portugal 11,000 6 10 Netherlands 10,000 5

Germany extended their lead over England slightly as Bayern Munich beat Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Bayern collected points for Germany and eliminated an English club at the same time. Also useful from a German perspective is Manchester City’s elimination against Real Madrid.

Both countries still have three clubs in the competitions. On Thursday there will be another direct duel in the Europa League with Bayer Leverkusen’s game at West Ham United.

Borussia Dortmund also scored points by winning and advancing against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. BVB, currently fifth in the Bundesliga, would be the beneficiary if Germany got fifth place.

The remaining games with clubs from both countries this week:

Europa League:
Atalanta Bergamo – FC Liverpool (3:0)
West Ham United – Bayer Leverkusen (0:2)

Conference League:
Lille OSC – Aston Villa (1:2)

Sixth place is even conceivable for Germany

A sixth place is even possible for the Bundesliga in this way: If Borussia Dortmund stays fifth in the Bundesliga or does even worse there, but at the same time wins the Champions League, BVB would be in the Champions League as defending champions in 2024/25.

The bonus place in the rankings would then go to the next best Bundesliga team that has not yet qualified, currently sixth in the table.

Every win brings two points

For the rest of the season, the following applies in all three competitions: every win brings you two points, every draw brings you one point, and every advance brings you another point. All points earned for the ranking are divided by the number of clubs in a country that competed in the European Cup. Germany started with seven teams, so each point earned is worth around 0.143 points in the rankings. In the Premier League, which initially had eight teams, each point is worth 0.125 points.

The two countries that occupy the top two places at the end of the season based on the average value calculated in this way will each receive an additional place in the Champions League. No other place will be deducted, not even in the Europa League or the Conference League. If successful, German football would then have a total of eight starting places in the three competitions instead of the usual seven.

Background: Due to the reform of the Champions League from the 2024/25 season, the number of participating clubs will increase from 32 to 36. From the coming season, two of the four additional places will be awarded based on this ranking. The two places are allocated every year and are distributed independently of UEFA’s five-year ranking. As before, this applies to the usual places.

Points for the ranking are as follows:

Champions League:

2 points: All wins from the group phase onwards 1 point: All draws from the group phase onwards 4 points: Bonus for participating in the group phase 4 points: For surviving the group phase 1 point: Bonus for each round from the round of 16 onwards 1 point: All wins in Qualification 0.5 points: All draws in qualification

Europa League:

2 points: All wins from the group stage onwards 1 point: All draws from the group stage onwards 4 points: Group winners 2 points: Group runners-up 1 point: Bonus for each round from the round of 16 onwards 1 point: All wins in qualification 0.5 points: All draws in the qualification

Europa Conference League:

2 points: All wins from the group stage onwards 1 point: All draws from the group stage onwards 2 points: Group winners 1 points: Group runners-up 1 point: Bonus for each round from the semi-finals onwards 1 point: All wins in qualification 0.5 points: All draws in the qualification

The Champions League will be fundamentally reformed for the 2024/25 season

The Champions League is getting a new mode for the new season. The most important key points of the reform:

Play in the future 36 instead of 32 Teams with. Of the four additional places one goes to fifth place in the five-year ranking (most recently France). In addition, another team qualified from the qualification. What is new, as explained above, is the allocation of the two additional places: the two countries, who collectively perform best in Europe within a season, will receive another place in the Champions League the following season. Instead of playing in group games in a league played, there is a large table with 36 teams.
Each Team plays against eight different ones Teams and has four home and four away games. The The first eight in the table at the end of the league phase reach the round of 16. The following 16 teams are in a knockout round for the other eight places in the round of 16, the rest are eliminated. In the round of 16 The clubs are placed in the tournament tree according to their table position, which is similar to the approach used in tennis tournaments. A Descent into Europe League is not possible anymorethat’s only possible in qualification.