The victory of Arsenal on the field of Sporting Lisbon (0-1) on Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals allows England to secure one of the two additional spots for the next edition.
England will still be a strong presence in Europe next season. According to calculations from the Football Meets Data statistics account, the Premier League will have at least five representatives in the Champions League in 2026-2027. Arsenal’s victory on the field of Sporting Lisbon (0-1) on Tuesday in the first leg allows England to secure one of the two spots allocated by UEFA to the two federations that have had the best current season.
Bad news for France
With a ranking of 25.013 in the UEFA ranking in 2025-2026 and still five representatives engaged in the three European competitions (Champions League, Europa League, Conference League), England can no longer lose its place in the Top 2. It has a big lead over Spain (20.281), which currently occupies the second place ahead of Germany (19.714). Portugal (18.900) and Italy (18.714) could also vie for this second “extra spot”. However, it is over for France, sixth in the current season (16.392) but mathematically unable to reach the top 2.
These two additional spots were integrated for the first time last season as part of the Champions League format revamp. England had already taken advantage of this by finishing in first place in 2024-2025, ahead of Spain, which also validated the presence of a fifth representative this season. La Liga is still well placed in this race even though Germany has closed the gap thanks to Bayern Munich’s victory on the field of Real Madrid (1-2) on Tuesday.
In addition to its extra spot earned on the UEFA coefficient for a season, England even had a sixth representative in C1 this season thanks to Tottenham’s victory in the Europa League against Manchester United (1-0) in the final. Not qualified for the C1 through their league, Spurs secured their place through this title.
