In 2024-2025, the new version wants the group stage of the competition to increase from 32 to 36 teams. Four additional places without having to go through the preliminary rounds will therefore be allocated. One for the club ranked third in the championship of the fifth association in the UEFA ranking (Ligue 1). A second for the national champion of the highest ranked association not directly qualified. Which is yet to be determined. Then two other places for the associations which performed the best during the season, according to the UEFA ranking.
How it works ?
If we froze the situation before these quarter-finals return, Serie A (18,428 points) and the Bundesliga (16,785 points) would be the two lucky ones. Except that the Premier League (16,750 points) is on the verge of overtaking the German championship. A qualification of Manchester City and Arsenal, at the expense of Bayern Munich, for the semi-finals of the Champions League would go in this direction.
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Conversely, Germany could maintain and even consolidate its lead thanks to Dortmund, Bayern, and also Bayer Leverkusen, on track (2-0 in the first leg) to overcome… an English team (West Ham) in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. The two other European competitions also make it possible to increase the coefficient of the associations.
In the Champions League and the Europa League, 2 points are distributed per victory from the group stage onwards (1 point per draw). Same in the Conference League, where 1 additional point is awarded only to all semi-finalists, while 1 point is given per round completed in the other two competitions. The season coefficient of an association results from the addition of all the points obtained by the clubs, divided by the number of clubs having participated in the three competitions.
Belgians concerned
If Serie A seems safe thanks to in good positions of Atalanta, Roma and Fiorentina after the quarter-finals first leg, the German and English clubs will therefore support their last representatives. Especially those who could inherit this 5th place. This is the case of Aston Villa and Youri Tielemans who are struggling with Tottenham in the Premier League. This is also the case for Leipzig and Loïs Openda who are in a standoff with Dortmund and Julien Duranville for 4th or 5th place in the Bundesliga. Remember that qualifying for the group stage for the next Champions League will be synonymous with a jackpot of at least 18 million euros.
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