Does Fifth Place in the Premier League Get Champions League? Coefficient Tracker

English clubs are fighting tooth and nail to feature in next season’s Champions League.

Qualification for the Champions League is essential for England’s giants. | Juanma/UEFA/Getty Images

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.

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Will Fifth Place in the Premier League Earn Champions League Qualification?

Four clubs are competing for three possible Champions League spots. | Alex Dodd/CameraSport/Catherine Ivill/AMA/Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Yagiz Gurtug/NurPhoto/Getty Images

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 their European last 16 ties has negatively affected the Premier League’s chance of securing an additional performance spot in the Champions League.

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2025–26 UEFA Coefficient Table

Spain is currently second in the coefficient table. | Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Position	Country	Average Points	Total Points
1.	England	24.791	223.125
2.	Spain	20.281	162.250
3.	Germany	19.428	136.000
4.	Portugal	18.900	94.500
5.	Italy	18.714	131.000
6.	France	16.392	114.750
7.	Poland	15.750	63.000

*Last updated March 20, 2026

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.

Despite the early exits of Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United in the Champions League, England still have five clubs competing across European competition—including Arsenal and Liverpool in the Champions League.

Spain is currently second in the coefficient table and has six teams still standing on the continent, with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid all defeating English opponents to reach the Champions League quarterfinals.

Germany are in third spot and are hanging the majority of their hopes on Bayern Munich’s Champions League campaign, while Sporting CP’s remarkable last 16 turnaround against Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League has actually lifted Portugal above Italy in the coefficient table. It’s been a traumatic campaign for Serie A sides on the continent, with none remaining in Europe’s premier competition.

France are sixth in coefficient terms but only narrowly ahead of Poland in the standings—although all Polish sides have now been eliminated across UEFA’s competitions.

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