UEFA coefficient: Which two countries will win an additional place for the 2024/25 Champions League?

Qualifying for the Champions League remains the priority for a host of European giants at the start of each season, but things may have been made a little easier this year.

With Europe's premier competition changing its format and expanding from 32 teams to 36, there are two additional performance qualification spots to play in some of the continent's top divisions. Which leagues will be awarded those spots depends on the respective UEFA coefficient rankings of various leagues.

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Those coefficient rankings relate to clubs' performances in UEFA competitions this season, with only the two countries with the highest coefficients earning the additional qualifying spots. Let's take a closer look at next season's Champions League format, as well as the current UEFA coefficient ranking.

With the change in Champions League format comes an expansion of the tournament, with 36 teams participating in the competition starting in the 2024/25 season, four more than the current number of participants.

Although there are four additional clubs in next season's edition, only two additional places will be awarded to the European leagues based on their coefficient.

For example, if Spain finished with one of the two best overall coefficients of the 2023/24 season, five teams will qualify for next year's Champions League via LaLiga instead of the current four.

A country's coefficient depends on the performances of that country's participants in UEFA competitions. Ideally, countries want their clubs to participate in European tournaments for as long as possible, as it gives them a better chance of climbing the coefficient table.

Serie A is almost assured of an extra place in the Champions League next season due to its overall coefficient, while the Bundesliga will have another European place as things stand. Borussia Dortmund's qualification for the Champions League semi-finals certainly boosted Germany's coefficient, and they would currently occupy one of the additional places alongside AS Roma.

It is bad news for teams like Athletic Club or Real Sociedad, since LaLiga currently occupies fourth place in the coefficient classification. There is still time for that to change, although the Champions League quarter-final eliminations of FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, as well as the fact that there is no Spanish team in the Conference or the Europa League, do not help to achieve that fifth place.

It therefore seems unlikely that Spain or France will secure an extra place, but they are not completely out of the running.

As previously stated, the 2024/25 Champions League will see 36 teams compete, but that is not the only change. The group stage has been scrapped and replaced by a single league table, with competing teams playing eight times during the group stage.

Half of those matches will be at home and the other half away, with matches determined by the clubs that fall into four different pots. Each team will play against two teams from each pot, with a home and away match against one club from each pot.

Teams that finish in the top eight in the league stage automatically qualify for the round of 16, while teams in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged knockout playoff. The teams from ninth to 16th will face the teams from 17th to 24th in this play-off.

Starting with the round of 16, the competition will not change its current format.

The short answer is yes, if a team from one of the countries with one of the two best coefficients won the Europa League but did not qualify for the Champions League domestically, then their respective league could have six teams represented next season.

For example, if Roma were to win this season's Europa League and finish outside the top five in Serie A, then they would join the Italian teams that qualified for the Champions League domestically in next season's competition, provided that Italy has one of the two highest coefficients.