What the race for fifth place in the Champions League looks like with Prem at risk of missing out
THE Champions League is on the verge of a major overhaul, with two major European countries getting an extra place in the competition from next season.
As it stands, the Premier League would miss out on fifth place.
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The Champions League has long consisted of 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four, with the best two from each group emerging.
But from next one season it will move to the Swiss model.
How can fifth place in the Premier League earn you a place in the Champions League?
The Prem will then have all six remaining teams in action for two weeks this month, with City already almost at home and Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Villa confident of progress.
A full house of Prem club wins would be worth a total of 2.75 ranking points, including bonuses, which would likely take England back to the top of the table.
It means that the true state of the race for the extra places will become much clearer on March 14.
But in the meantime, the further Arsenal go, the better it is for Spurs and United.
What is the new Champions League format?
In the new format, 36 teams are admitted to one big league table, with the top eight automatically qualifying for the round of 16 and positions 9-24 competing for a play-off.
To determine the schedules, the teams are divided into four pots of nine.
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Each club will be drawn against two teams from each pot, including their own team.
After the end of the group stage, no more teams will participate in the Europa League.
With the number of teams admitted to the Champions League growing from 32 to 36, four additional places are up for grabs.
Two of these places go to the competitions whose clubs perform the best in Europe matchesincluding the Europa League and Europa Conference League, this season.
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While the remaining two go to the team that finishes third in the UEFA country that is fifth in terms of coefficient, and the other to the qualifying route of the champions.
How does the coefficient work?
The best performing leagues are determined by the average coefficient of participating clubs in Europe.
Every win by a club from a country is worth two points, a draw one and a defeat nothing.
Bonus points are then collected by progressing through the different stages of each competition.
Playing in the Champions League group stage is worth four points, five of which are awarded for qualifying for the round of 16 and one each for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
Winning a Europa League group, as Liverpool have already done, is worth four points, while the runners-up get two.
Bonus points are then awarded for reaching the round of 16, quarters, semi-finals and finals.
Winning your group in the Europa Conference League, as Aston Villa might, is worth two points, while qualifying as second is worth one.
Bonus points are awarded for reaching the semi-finals or finals.
All points earned by clubs from each country are added up and then divided by the number of teams from that country in Europe, eight in the case of the Premier League.
The inability of Manchester United and Newcastle to progress, even in the Europa League, has seen the Premier League's coefficient drop to third in its current form.
The English top team would have received the extra Champions League spot in four of the past five seasons, with the exception of the 2019/20 season.
Currently, the coefficient number, 12.13, lags behind that of Germany13.36, and Italy13.14.
With Man Utd and Newcastle both already eliminated, the Prem will be heavily reliant on the other clubs to make deep runs to pick up enough points to climb into the top two.
Holders Manchester City have won their Champions League group, while Arsenal have also done so.
Liverpool, Brighton and West Ham have all progressed in the Europa League, and Aston Villa have qualified for the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League.
As it stands now, the Bundesliga and Serie A would get the extra Champions League places.
Should a team from one of the two countries with the highest coefficient win the Europa League without finishing in the top five of its own division, that country could have six teams in the Champions League.
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