Champions League: Uefa settles on new coefficient plan for places

Uefa will allow two clubs to enter the Champions League from 2024 based on historical performance, it has been agreed, but with the rankings determined by country and not club.

The deal, struck at a meeting of Uefa’s executive committee on Tuesday, is a compromise which will also see the number of fixtures in the revamped Champions League reduced to eight matches per club in the ‘league stage’, down from a proposed 10.

Under previous plans, two clubs who failed to reach the Champions League by league qualification would have still made the tournament based on their coefficient, a rating determined by performance in Europe over the previous five years.

The new approach will also see two places determined by coefficient, but that of the country as a whole, and only over the past year. If the new rules were applied this season, the two extra places would go to clubs from England and the Netherlands.

The numbers are based on points obtained by all a country’s clubs in a given season in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

In four of the past five seasons – and six of the past 10 – England would have got one of the places. The Conference League has not existed across those periods.

A decrease in fixtures is a clearer victory for fan groups and representatives of national league competitions. Under the original plans for reform, there would have been 10 guaranteed matches for each of the 36 clubs in the “Swiss League” system, a total increase of 100 fixtures per season. Under the compromise, the total number of fixtures would increase by 64.