Arsenal Beats Real Madrid As English Premier Claims Fifth Champions League Spot—-The Premier League is set to be one of two leagues in Europe rewarded with an extra place in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League after Arsenal beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final.

Thanks to the performances of Premier League clubs in all of UEFA’s competitions this season, England is now guaranteed a top-two spot in UEFA’s association club coefficient rankings, which earns a “European Performance Spot” (EPS). This means that as well as the top four-placed teams in the Premier League, the club finishing fifth in 2024/25 will also go straight into the Champions League next season.

On top of that, the winners of this season’s Champions League and the winners of the UEFA Europa League will each be given a place in the 2025/26 Champions League, if they have not already qualified for the competition through their league positions.

The UEFA Champions League trophy
How Premier League clubs qualify for European competitions
It means the Premier League could potentially have as many as SEVEN clubs in next season’s Champions League – the top five teams in the league, plus the Champions League winners and the Europa League winners if they finish outside the top five.

Race for Europe
Pos Club Pl  GD  Pts
1.   LIV   31  +42  73
2.  ARS  31  +30  62
3.  NFO  31 +14   57
4.  CHE  31  +17  53
5.  NEW 30 +13  53
6.  MCI   31 +17   52
7.  AVL.  31  0      51
8.  FUL  31 +5     48
9.  BHA  31 +2    47

How do the fifth-placed team qualify?

UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded with an extra Champions League place by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

It means the various leagues are competing with each other in a ranking called the “association club coefficient”.

Every win for a club in any of UEFA’s club competitions this season earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for a defeat.

On top of that, bonus points are awarded according to where each club finish in their European league table. These are weighted according to the competition. For example, finishing top of the table in the Champions League gets you 12 bonus points, while finishing top of the Europa League gets you six, and the top team in the Conference League get four.

Additional bonus points are awarded for reaching each round from the last 16 onwards. These are also weighted according to the competition.

Bonus points added per round

Competition Bonus points
Champions League 1.5
Europa League 1.0
Conference League 0.5

The points of all participating clubs from each league are totalled and then divided by the number of clubs who started the season in UEFA competitions, to calculate the association club coefficient average.

What are the standings?

England (the Premier League) currently lead the way at the top of the table, with five teams through to the quarter-finals – more than any of their rivals.

Arsenal’s win means that England has secured a top-two spot in the rankings, which would bring a fifth Champions League spot for the Premier League next season.

Here is the coefficients rank as it stands on 8 April after the first legs of the first two UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

UEFA coefficient rankings*

Association     Pts          Clubs at start    Clubs left     Ave. pts
England         171.750           7                         5               24.535
Spain              151.750           7                         4               21.678
Italy                161.500          8                         3               20.187
Germany        143.375          8                         3               17.921
Portugal           81.250          5                         0               16.250

*Source: UEFA; 9 April