As the new Champions League format will kick in next season, an extra spot will be handed to the two best leagues and Italy is currently in the lead. AC Milan, Atalanta and Roma will now be tasked with seeing it through.
With the new Champions League format ready for launch, the two associations that do best in European competitions this season will get an extra spot. For the top leagues – Serie A, Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga – five teams would thus qualify.
Taking a look at the current UEFA ranking, Italy is in the lead this season with 4/7 teams still active across the Europa League and the Conference League. The exits of Inter, Lazio and Napoli in the Champions League didn’t help, but Italy should still see this through with a couple more good results.
Milan taking on Roma in the quarter-finals means that at least one Italian team will be in the semi-finals, while Atalanta will do their best to beat Liverpool. Both Milan and Roma will be eyeing the final, which would (in all likelihood) seal the fifth spot.
If you are unfamiliar with the points system, teams are awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. One point is also handed out for every stage that you reach in the knockout, though it’s slightly different for Fiorentina in the Conference League.
In order to reward those who perform well in the tougher competitions, the bonus point per stage is only handed out from the semi-finals and forward in the Conference League. In that sense, having three Italian teams reach the knockout stage in the UCL also helped a lot as additional four bonus points were handed out for that.
Germany, which is currently second, only has 3/7 teams left in the competitions while England has 5/8. Italy and England are thus the favourites for the time being, but the situation will have to be assessed once again after the quarter-finals.
