In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only),[1][2] and after applied in women's football and futsal, the coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe, and the Asian parts of some transcontinental countries.
The confederation publishes three types of rankings: one analysing a single season, a five-year span, and a ten-year span. For men's competitions, three sets of coefficients are calculated:
The association coefficient is used to rank the football associations of Europe, and thus determine the number of clubs from an association that will participate in the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League.
The UEFA ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next, not in the first season after the publication of the ranking. Thus, the rankings at the end of the 2022–23 season determine the team allocation by association in the 2024–25 (not 2023–24) UEFA season. This is unrelated to the selection of teams which will fill each allocation through the individual association leagues and national cups (which is decided in the preceding season).
This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the associations in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League games over the past five seasons. Two points are awarded for each win by a club, and one for a draw (points are halved in the qualifying rounds). Results determined by extra time do count in determining the allocation of points, but results determined by penalty shootouts do not affect the allocation of points, other than for bonus points given for qualification into the latter rounds. The number of points awarded each season is divided by the number of teams that participated for that association in that season. This number is then rounded down to three decimal places (e.g. 2+2⁄3 would be rounded to 2.666).[4][5]
To determine an association's coefficient for a particular season, the coefficients for the last five seasons are added. Bonus points are added to the number of points scored in a season. Bonus points are allocated for:[6]
Bonus Points
UEFA uses this coefficient system to decide which teams gain automatic entry to the league phase and which teams must go through qualifying. For instance, the teams who occupy the top four league places in the associations ranked 1 to 4 in UEFA competition, the top two teams of the association ranked 5 and 6, and the champions in the associations ranked 7 to 10 gain automatic entry into the league phase for the following season's Champions League competition.
The ranking below takes into account of each association's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25, with the 2024–25 season beginning in July. The final ranking at the end of the 2024–25 season will be used to determine the minimum number of places for each association in the 2026–27 UEFA club competitions.
The two highest annual coefficients from the 2023–24 season and onward will be used to determine two additional European Performance Spots in the Champions League for the next season.
As of 2 June 2024, the coefficients are as follows:[7][8]
Notes
{{Cnote2|Note RUS|Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[11][12][13] On 2 May 2022, UEFA confirmed that Russian clubs would be excluded from the 2022–23 UEFA competitions and be awarded the minimum coefficient from the previous 5 seasons (4.333) for 2022–23.[14] Later UEFA changed Russia's coefficient in 2022–23 season to zero, but they subsequently restored their coefficient to 4.333 at the end of the 2022–23 season.[15] On 30 May 2024 Russia were once again awarded the minimum coefficient from the previous 5 seasons (4.333) for 2023–24.[citation needed]
According to the UEFA regulations a National League needs to consist of at least eight clubs to be considered valid, otherwise no participants of such a league will be allowed to enter European competitions.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two-legged ties in the knockout stages of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, and in the qualifying stages of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League and 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, were changed to single-leg matches. In those cases where there was such a change in format, the following points were awarded instead:[16][17]
This translates to the original system (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) by considering the "unplayed leg" as a draw.
The following is the default access list for the 2024–25 and future seasons.[18] Rankings in table exclude Liechtenstein.[a]
The following was the default access list from the 2021–22 season through the 2023–24 season.[19][20] Rankings in table exclude Liechtenstein.[a]
Following the introduction of the UEFA Cup in 1971, the competition began to grow in complexity having more clubs than the European Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup, reaching up to four from a single country. UEFA began to publish association rankings in 1979,[21][2] to identify the number of participants for each association in the UEFA Cup.
Subsequently, for statistical purposes, various rankings were introduced to portray the history of the associations. According to the prorated (extended) calculation system, only four associations have succeeded in being ranked as the top European association.[22]
Following the Heysel Stadium disaster, all English teams were banned from UEFA competitions in 1985. The ban was only lifted after five seasons, with the knock-on effects continuing to impact on English football for a total of nine years from 1986 to 1994.[23] Having been top in 1985, England were un-ranked in 1990[24] and would not regain the top position until 2008.[25]
The following data indicates the three top-ranked associations in each five-year period.[26] Data prior to 1975–1979 period has been calculated, but precedes the first published by the Confederation and has merely informative value.[26] Note that the table take into account the results from the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was a non-UEFA competition that took place until 1971, whose teams in the first editions were representing cities instead of clubs.
The table shows the ranking of nations with respect to the total number of years in the top three of the rankings:
The ranking below takes into account of each association's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25, with the 2024–25 season currently taking place.
The final ranking at the end of the 2024–25 season will be used to determine the number of places for each association in the 2026–27 UEFA Women's Champions League.
As of 7 July 2024 the coefficients are as follows:[27]
Notes
The following data indicates the three top-ranked women's associations in each five-year period.
The table shows the ranking of nations with respect to the total number of years in the top three of the rankings:
Introduced first in 1990[30] with various calculation principles applied throughout the years,[31] currently the club coefficient is either the sum of the points earned by the club in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League over the previous five seasons or 20% of the club's association coefficient over the same period, whichever coefficient is higher.[32] This ranking is used by UEFA to determine a club's seeding in club competition draws, including the qualifying and group stages of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, and FIFA Club World Cup.[3]
The clubs receive two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a defeat in games of the main stages of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. Results determined after extra-time are included in this method, however results determined after penalty shoot-outs are not (the result is considered a draw). Bonus points for entering the Europa League or Conference League group stage / league phase are not additional to win/draw points; they provide a minimum points allowance for participating clubs, whereas bonus points for entering the Champions League group stage / league phase (and those for qualifying to the knockout stage) are additional to win/draw points.
Qualifying round results are only taken into account if the club is eliminated in one of the rounds (see table below). Otherwise, the qualifying round results are taken into account only for the calculation of the association's coefficient and are halved.[33] The clubs do not receive any points for elimination in the Champions League or Europa League qualifying because those clubs move to the Europa League and/or Conference League and receive points from participation in that competition.[34][35]
The ranking below takes into account of each club's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25, with the 2024–25 season to begin July.
The top 25 clubs as of 2 June 2024 are as follows.[36][37]
Prior to the 2018 club rankings, teams received the sum of their points earned over the last five seasons plus 20% of the club's association coefficient.[33][34]
Before 1999 a number of strong teams in the UEFA Cup were seeded such that those teams did not meet in the first two rounds. To determine these teams, the sum of the ratio of the number of points achieved to the number of games played by each team, was calculated for the past five seasons [citation needed]
The following data indicate the top-ranked clubs in each 5-year period.[26] Data prior to 1975–1979 period has been calculated, but precedes the first published by the Confederation and has merely informative value.[26]
Top-rated clubs listed by number of times they were top-ranked over a 5-year period since the first period officially analysed (1975–1979):
The season coefficient of a club is calculated by adding the total number of points it obtains in a given season and 20% of its association's coefficient for that same season. A club's five-season coefficient is the cumulative total of its five season coefficients from the reference period and 20% of its association's five-season association's coefficient.[38] This ranking is used by UEFA to determine a club's seeding in club competition draws, including the qualifying and group stages of the UEFA Women's Champions League.
The distribution of points is symmetrical to the distribution of points in association ranking.
The ranking below takes into account of each team's performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25, with the 2024–25 season starting 4 September 2024.
The top 25 clubs as of 4 July 2024 are as follows:[39]
The following data indicate the top-ranked women's clubs in each 5-year period.
Top-rated women's clubs listed by number of times they were top-ranked over a 5-year period since the first period officially analysed (2001–2005):
UEFA calculates coefficients for each association that takes part in the UEFA Regions' Cup. These coefficients are calculated to compile ranking lists that are used to determine the round in which each team enters the competition and to seed the teams for the draws. The coefficient ranking list is established for the preliminary and intermediate round draws on the basis of the associations’ results in the three most recent completed seasons at the time of the draws. For the 2022–23 competition, the coefficient ranking list is therefore based on the associations' results in the seasons 2014–15, 2016–17 and 2018–19.[40]
As of 8 December 2021 the coefficients are as follows:[41]
Points are awarded for each match played in the qualifying competition. Match points are awarded in accordance with the final scores as ratified by UEFA. Final tournament matches and penalty shoot-outs are not taken into consideration. In addition to the match points, the bonus points are awarded for each season.The points are given as follows:[40]
Since 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification, the UEFA coefficients are based on the Elo rating system and are constantly updated to all non-friendly matches.[42] This ranking is used to seed national teams on UEFA competitions and to decide the number of clubs from an association that will participate in the UEFA Futsal Champions League. The rating below is the situation after the UEFA Futsal Euro 2022 qualifications have been played:
The coefficients from 2020 used for the seeding and pot placements in the draw for UEFA Women's Futsal Euro 2022, were based on results on 2019 edition.[43]
The club coefficient, used to determine seeds and entrance round on the UEFA Futsal Champions League, is the sum of the points earned by the club in that competition on the previous three seasons and 50% of the club's association coefficient over the same period. The association coefficient is the sum of the points earned by all the clubs of the association. Even though all calculation procedures are public for association and club coefficients, UEFA only publishes the coefficients of the clubs competing in the next season of UEFA Futsal Champions League.[44]
The coefficients for the top 16 teams competing on 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League are as follows:[45]
The UEFA coefficient system has been criticised for being likely to preserve the status quo for rankings and seedings, as well as for favouring teams from stronger leagues.[46]
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