UEFA coefficient

In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions.

The coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe. It uses three different coefficients:

The coefficient of the national teams;
The coefficient of national leagues;
The coefficient of football clubs.

National team coefficient

Until before Euro 2008

The national team coefficient is derived from the results of the national football team of a nation. Until the end of the Euro 2008 tournament, it has been calculated by dividing the number of points scored (three points for a win, one for a draw) by the number of matches played in the last two qualification rounds of the World Cup or European Championship. Play-off match results are ignored. For some countries only one qualifying round will be taken into account, if they were hosts of one of the last two events.

This coefficient is used by UEFA to determine in which "pot" a national team will be for the qualification tournaments of the European Championship, and the final tournament of the European Championship. Its usage as seeding criteria for the World Cup preliminaries ended when the UEFA executive committee decided to follow FIFA directives and used the FIFA rankings instead for the 2010 World Cup qualifying round draw. Each team in a pot is drawn into a separate qualifying group, thus keeping the bigger teams apart until the later stages of the competition.

If two or more associations have the same coefficient, the following criteria will be applied:

coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition,
average goal difference,
average number of goals scored,
average number of away goals scored,
drawing of lots.

From after Euro 2008

On 20 May 2008, UEFA announced the change of the coefficient ranking system.

Under the new system, teams gain ranking points for each match played in the most recently completed five qualifying tournaments or finals of the World Cup or European Championships. 10,000 points are awarded for playing a match, with an additional 30,000 for winning, 20,000 for winning after a penalty shoot out, and 10,000 for a draw (including forcing, but failing to win, a penalty shoot-out). Matches in the finals tournament, or play-offs to determine qualification, are granted extra points, ranging from 6,000 to 38,000. 501 points are earned for scoring a goal, and 500 lost for each goal conceded. Points are divided by the number of games played, and more recent tournaments have double the weighting of the one most distant in time. Special arrangements are in place for hosts of competitions, who have therefore not participated in the qualifying tournament.

At the beginning of the Euro 2008 tournament, the rankings thus calculated are:

	36,986
	36,219
	36,025
	35,655
	35,370
	34,573
	34,323
	34,000
	33,749
	33,075
	32,825
	32,135
	30,581
	30,557

	29,912
	29,674
	28,493
	28,109
	27,447
	27,425
	27,326
	27,143
	27,021
	25,399
	25,395
	24,798
	24,041
	23,932

	23,810
	22,756
	22,223
	21,731
	21,551
	21,145
	20,808
	19,701
	19,692
	18,914
	18,744
	18,110
	17,799
	17,000

	16,989
	16,555
	14,451
	13,331
	12,913
	11,970
	10,288
	9,671
	9,403
	7,948
	0

League coefficient

The league coefficient is used to rank the leagues of Europe, and thus determine the number of clubs from a league that will participate in competitions such as the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions 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 2007 ranking determines the proportion in 2008–09, not 2007–08.

This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the leagues in UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League games over the past five seasons. The number of points awarded each season (two for each win by a club from that league, one for a draw) is divided by the number of teams that participated for that nation in that season. This number is then rounded to three decimal places (e.g. 2 2/3 will be rounded to 2.667).

For the league coefficient the season's league coefficients for the last five seasons must be added up. In the preliminary rounds of both the Champions League and UEFA Cup the awarded points are halved. Bonus points are allocated for:

Qualifying for the Champions League group phase. (3 bonus points)
Reaching the second round of the Champions League.
Reaching the quarter, semi and final of both Champions League and UEFA cup.

The bonus points are added to the number of points scored in a season.

Current ranking (2009-10 UEFA competitions)

Correct as of May 21, 2008

Rank 09/10	Rank 08/09	Mvmt	League	2003/2004	2004/2005	2005/2006	2006/2007	2007/2008	Coeff.	CL places	EL places
1	2	+1	England	11.250	15.571	14.428	16.625	17.875	75.749	4	3
2	1	-1	Spain	14.312	12.437	15.642	19.000	13.875	75.266
3	3	—	Italy	8.875	14.000	15.357	11.928	10.250	60.410
4	4	—	France	13.500	11.428	10.812	10.000	6.928	52.668	3
5	5	—	Germany	4.714	10.571	10.437	9.500	13.500	48.722
6	9	+3	Russia	5.875	10.000	10.000	6.625	11.250	43.750
7	7	—	Romania	4.333	5.500	16.833	11.333	2.600	40.599	2	4
8	6	-2	Portugal	10.250	8.166	5.500	8.083	7.928	39.927
9	8	-1	Netherlands	5.416	12.000	7.583	8.214	5.000	38.213
10	10	—	Scotland	7.375	4.750	4.250	6.750	10.250	33.375		3
11	14	+3	Turkey	6.500	5.375	4.000	6.100	9.750	31.725
12	11	-1	Ukraine	4.875	8.100	5.750	6.500	4.875	30.100
13	12	-1	Belgium	5.875	6.125	5.500	4.700	4.500	26.700
14	15	+1	Greece	4.166	6.166	3.333	4.666	7.500	25.831
15	13	-2	Czech Republic	7.375	2.875	4.625	5.750	5.125	25.750
16	17	+1	Switzerland	1.875	2.625	9.375	4.100	6.250	24.225	1	3
17	16	-1	Bulgaria	4.166	2.375	8.750	5.125	2.750	23.166
18	18	—	Norway	6.125	3.500	5.400	2.000	5.400	22.425
19	21	+2	Denmark	4.200	1.500	3.500	6.125	5.125	20.450
20	22	+2	Austria	2.125	7.625	3.250	1.500	3.200	17.700
21	20	-1	Serbia	4.500	4.250	3.250	2.125	2.625	16.750
22	19	-3	Israel	2.250	3.625	1.500	6.000	2.375	15.750
23	28	+5	Sweden	1.500	3.000	2.666	1.125	5.400	13.691
24	25	+1	Slovakia	2.500	1.333	4.333	2.000	2.166	12.332
25	23	-2	Poland	4.125	2.500	1.125	2.625	1.666	12.041
26	24	-2	Hungary	4.833	4.166	1.000	1.000	1.000	11.999
27	26	-1	Croatia	3.625	3.000	0.333	1.000	3.666	11.624
28	27	-1	Cyprus	1.333	1.333	3.000	1.750	2.666	10.082
29	29	—	Slovenia	2.166	3.500	2.333	1.250	0.666	9.915
30	33	+3	Finland	1.666	1.666	2.333	1.333	2.625	9.623
31	31	—	Latvia	0.833	3.166	1.333	2.166	1.333	8.831
32	30	-2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.666	1.666	1.500	1.833	1.833	8.498
33	32	-1	Lithuania	0.833	2.500	1.333	1.833	1.500	7.999
34	34	—	Moldova	1.500	1.500	1.666	1.500	1.333	7.499
35	35	—	Republic of Ireland	0.333	1.333	1.833	2.833	1.000	7.332
36	38	+2	FYR Macedonia	1.666	0.333	1.500	1.166	1.666	6.331
37	39	+2	Iceland	0.500	2.500	0.833	1.000	1.166	5.999
38	36	-2	Georgia	0.333	2.666	0.666	1.166	1.000	5.831
39	37	-2	Liechtenstein¹	0.000	2.000	1.000	2.000	0.500	5.500	0	1
40	40	—	Belarus	0.666	0.500	1.333	1.000	1.833	5.332	1	3
41	42	+1	Estonia	0.333	0.833	0.833	1.500	0.833	4.332
42	44	+2	Azerbaijan	0.000	0.500	1.333	1.333	0.666	3.832
43	41	-2	Albania	0.333	1.000	1.000	0.833	0.500	3.666
44	43	-1	Armenia	0.666	0.500	0.666	0.500	1.333	3.665
45	45	—	Kazakhstan	0.166	0.000	1.000	0.666	0.750	2.582
46	46	—	Northern Ireland	0.500	0.666	0.500	0.166	0.500	2.332
47	47	—	Wales	0.333	0.000	0.666	0.666	0.666	2.331
48	48	—	Faroe Islands	0.000	0.333	0.666	0.500	0.333	1.832
49	49	—	Luxembourg	0.166	0.333	0.500	0.166	0.333	1.498
50	50	—	Malta	0.333	0.333	0.000	0.166	0.000	0.832
51	—	—	Montenegro	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.500	0.500
51	51	—	Andorra	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.500	0.500	1	1
53	52	-1	San Marino	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.250	0.250	1	1

¹ The Liechtenstein Football Association does not organise a national league competition. The only competitor from Liechtenstein in international competitions are the Liechtenstein cup winners, who qualify for the UEFA Cup. All Liechtenstein teams play in neighbouring Switzerland's league competitions.

Division of Champions League and Europa League places in detail

Not all the places for the Champions League or the Europa League are directly for the main tournament. As the national rank of a countries national league is higher, more clubs that participate in that league receive places for European football and those places will be better too. From the 2009 to 2012 seasons UEFA introduced a new format. Only twenty-one teams get direct access to the Champions League after their season. There are three qualifying rounds for the Champions League (+ one preliminary qualifying round for the lowest ranked teams). It is impossible to win direct access to the Europa League unless the previous tournament's winner has not qualified for the Champions League, in which case they will be the only team seeded directly into the group stage. The only way a team can qualify for the Europa League proper is by losing the third qualifying round of the Champions League or by winning the fourth qualifying round of the Europa League. Places in the knockout round of the Europa League are available for teams finishing third in the group stage of the Champions League, just as with the previous format. There are also now four qualifying rounds for the Europa League, up from three in the previous format. The berths for both tournaments are distributed as listed below, though changes to this distribution are possible at UEFA's discretion.:

Rank	Champions League					Europa League
	CL	Q3	Q2	Q1	pre.	EL	Q4	Q3	Q2	Q1
1-3	3	1					2	1
4-5	2	1					2	1
6	2		1				2	1
7-9	1		1				2	1	1
10-12	1		1				1	1	1
13-15			2				1	1	1
16-18				1				2	1
19-21				1				1	2
22-27				1				1	1	1
28-34				1					2	1
35-47				1					1	2
48-53					1				1	2
Andorra San Marino					1					1
Liechtenstein									1

History

ImageSize = width:140 height:400 PlotArea = left:40 right:40 bottom:10 top:10 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1960 till:31/12/2009 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:01/01/1960

TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy

Colors =

 id:Germany     value:rgb(1,0,0)

 id:England         value:rgb(0,0,1)

 id:Italy     value:rgb(0,0.45,0)

 id:Spain value:rgb(1,1,0)

PlotData=

 bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S

 from:01/01/1960 till:31/12/1966 shift:(20,-8) text:"La Liga" color:Spain

 from:01/01/1967 till:31/12/1975 shift:(20,-6) text:"Football League" color:England

 from:01/01/1976 till:31/12/1984 shift:(20,-3) text:"Bundesliga" color:Germany

 from:01/01/1985 till:01/01/1986 shift:(20,-3) text:"Football League" color:England

 from:02/01/1986 till:31/12/1989 shift:(20,-5) text:"Serie A" color:Italy

 from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1991 shift:(20,-2) text:"Bundesliga" color:Germany

 from:02/01/1991 till:31/12/1999 shift:(20,0) text:"Serie A" color:Italy

 from:01/01/2000 till:31/12/2007 shift:(20,0) text:"La Liga" color:Spain

 from:01/01/2008 till:31/12/2008 shift:(20,0) text:"Premier League" color:England

Since 1960, when the first 5-year based coefficients were released, only 4 leagues have succeeded in being the top European league.

The table at the right shows the history of first placed teams in UEFA League Coefficients.

The next table shows the ranking of nations with respect to total number of years leading in Europe:

Rank	League	Total
1	La Liga	15
2	Serie A	13
3	Football League Premier League	11
4	Bundesliga	10

Club coefficient

The club coefficient is determined by the results of a club in European club competition in the last five seasons, and the league coefficient. The club coefficient is 33% of the league coefficient plus the number of points earned by the club in the five seasons. Before 2004 the contribution of the country coefficient was 50%. The points earned by a club in the preliminary rounds are not counted.

The clubs get two points for a win and one point for a draw in games of the main stage of European competitions. Participation in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League is rewarded with three points. Reaching every knock-out round (1/8 of the final, quarter-final, semi-final or final) of Champions League or UEFA Cup is rewarded with a point (See UEFA Coefficients FAQ).

This ranking is used by UEFA to determine which pot the club belongs to in the preliminary and first rounds of the Champions League, and the preliminary, first and second rounds of the UEFA Cup.

Before 1999 a number of strong teams in the UEFA Cup were seeded such that those teams do not meet in the first two rounds. To determine these teams, the sum of the ratio of the number of points achieved, divided by the number of games played by each team, was calculated for the past five years.

The top 20 clubs as of 2007-08 UEFA competitions are as follows:

Rank	Club	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	Coefficient
1	Chelsea	22.7125	25.1385	17.7610	28.4860	30.8985	124.996
2	Milan	16.9285	31.6200	26.0675	27.9360	17.3825	119.934
3	Liverpool	14.7125	30.1385	17.7610	29.4860	26.8985	118.996
4	Barcelona	16.7230	17.1040	34.1620	20.2700	29.5785	117.837
5	Arsenal	17.7125	19.1385	31.7610	18.4860	23.8985	110.996
6	Manchester United	15.7125	17.1385	12.7610	27.4860	34.8985	107.996
7	Sevilla	4.7230	16.1040	30.1620	31.2700	20.5785	102.837
8	Lyon	18.4550	23.7710	24.5680	18.3000	14.2860	99.380
9	Internazionale	15.9285	22.6200	24.0675	16.9360	17.3825	96.934
10	Real Madrid	21.7230	18.1040	17.1620	20.2700	16.5785	93.837
11	Bayern Munich	10.5555	19.4885	17.4440	20.1350	24.4550	92.078
12	PSV Eindhoven	17.7875	24.9600	13.5025	17.7105	17.6500	91.610
13	Villarreal	20.7230	22.1040	24.1620	6.2700	17.5785	90.837
14	Newcastle United	24.7125	27.1385	4.7610	22.4860	5.8985	84.996
15	Valencia	29.7230	14.1040	5.1620	23.2700	11.5785	83.837
16	Roma	12.9285	8.6200	19.0675	20.9360	20.3825	81.934
17	Porto	26.3825	13.6950	8.8150	15.6675	16.6160	81.176
18	Benfica	13.3825	13.6950	17.8150	18.6675	13.6160	77.176
19	Werder Bremen	1.5555	16.4885	14.4440	24.1350	17.4550	74.078
20	AZ	1.7875	27.9600	13.5025	18.7105	7.6500	69.610