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.
For men's competitions, three different sets of coefficients are calculated:
National team coefficient: used to rank national teams, for seeding in the UEFA Euro qualifying
and finals tournaments Country coefficient: used to rank the collective
performance of the clubs of each member association, for assigning the number of places, and at
what stage clubs enter the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League
Club coefficient: used to rank individual clubs, for seeding in the UEFA Champions League
and UEFA Europa League While not discussed in this article, coefficients
are calculated in a similar fashion for women's competitions such as the UEFA Women's Euro
and the UEFA Women's Champions League, as well as for youth tournaments such as the
UEFA Euro U-21 tournament.
National team coefficient The UEFA national team coefficient is derived
from the results of each European national football team, and only calculated by UEFA
every second year in November; defined as being the point of time when all UEFA nations
have completed the qualification stage of the upcoming World Cup or European Championship
tournament.
The purpose of calculating the coefficients is to compile an official UEFA rank, to be
used as seeding criteria for the European nations, when drawing up qualification groups
and the final tournament groups of the European Championship.
Previously, up until 2006, the UEFA national team coefficient was also used for the seeded
draw of World Cup qualification groups in Europe, while the draw for final tournament
groups of the World Cup was always seeded on the basis of the official FIFA World Rankings.
The reason why UEFA stopped using UEFA national team coefficients for the seeding of World
Cup qualification groups was a request from FIFA to only use the official FIFA ranking
for all seeded draws related to the World Cup tournament.
Old ranking and calculation method It was first introduced in 2003 and used for
seeding the 2004 European Final tournament and 2006 World Cup qualification.
Until the end of the Euro 2008 tournament, the UEFA national team coefficient was calculated
by dividing the number of all points scored by the number of all matches played, in the
last two qualification rounds of the World Cup or European Championship.
Results from the final tournaments, Play-off matches and friendly games were all ignored.
In those cases where a nation did not take part at one of the two latest qualifying rounds,
due to being directly qualified as a host, only one qualifying round would be taken into
account.
If two or more nations ended up with exactly the same coefficient, the following ranking
criteria was applied: Highest coefficient from the matches played
in the most recent qualifying competition.
Biggest average goal difference per game, found by dividing the sum of all goal differences
by the number of ranked matches.
Highest average number of goals scored per game.
Highest average number of away goals scored per game.
Drawing of lots.
The last three times UEFA used this calculation method was for the final UEFA coefficients
in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
New ranking and calculation method On 20 May 2008, UEFA announced changes to
the coefficient ranking system.
The ranking will continue to be calculated every second year in November, but under the
new system, teams now gain ranking points for each game played in the most recently
completed full cycle of both the World Cup and European Championship, with addition of
ranking points for each game played at the latest completed half cycle.
Ranking points for all games played inside those two and a half cycles, will be awarded
according to the rules listed below.
10,000 points are awarded for each match played, regardless of the match result.
Each team earns an additional 30,000 for winning and 10,000 for drawing.
In case of a game decided by penalty shoot out, the points are allocated as a draw, with
the winner of the shoot-out gaining an additional 10,000 points.
Each match at the final tournament, or play-offs to determine qualification, are also granted
some extra bonus points, ranging from 6,000 points for all play-offs or World Cup group
stage games, to 38,000 points for playing a final.
501 points are earned for each goal scored, and -500 are given for each goal conceded.
Coefficients are calculated for each two and a half cycle, by dividing the sum of earned
points with the number of games played.
When calculating the overall average coefficient for the cycles, the latest full cycle and
half cycle will each have double the weight, compared to the oldest full cycle.
Special arrangements are in place for those nations that did not participate in one of
the previous qualifying tournaments due to hosting the competition.
Final ranking in 2009 The coefficients from November 2009, to be
used for the seeding and pot placements in the draw for UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
groups, were calculated for each country by averaging:
40% of the average points per game, earned in the 2010 World Cup qualifying stage.
40% of the average points per game, earned in the 2008 Euro qualifying stage and final
tournament.
20% of the average points per game, earned in the 2006 World Cup qualifying stage and
final tournament.
The new official UEFA coefficients were calculated for the first time in November 2009:
Final ranking in 2011 The coefficients to be calculated for UEFA
Euro 2012 final tournament were found by averaging: 40% of the average points per game, earned
in the 2012 Euro qualifying stage.
40% of the average points per game, earned in the 2010 World Cup qualifying stage and
final tournament.
20% of the average points per game, earned in the 2008 Euro qualifying stage and final
tournament The seeding and pot placements of the qualified
teams in the draw for Euro 2012 were based on UEFA coefficients, determined on 16 November
2011, which are as follows: Final ranking in 2013
The coefficients from 2013, to be used for the seeding and pot placements in the draw
for UEFA Euro 2016 qualification groups, were calculated for each country by averaging:
40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying
stage.
40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying stage
and final tournament.
20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying
stage and final tournament.
The seeding and pot placements of the teams in the draw for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
were based on UEFA coefficients, determined on 12 December 2013, which are as follows:
Country coefficient
The country coefficient is used to rank the football associations of Europe, and thus
determine the number of clubs from an association that will participate in the UEFA Champions
League and the UEFA Europa 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 rankings at the end of the 2013–14 season determine the team allocation by association
in the 2015–16 UEFA season; however, the actual teams that will be participating are
determined at the end of the 2014–15 season when the individual association classifications
and national cups are finalized.
This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the associations in the UEFA
Champions League and the UEFA Europa League games over the past five seasons.
Two points are awarded for each win by a club, and one for a draw.
Results determined by extra time do count in determining the allocation of points, but
results determined by penalty-shootouts do not affect the allocation of points, other
than for bonus points given for qualification into the latter rounds of the Champions League
or the Europa League.
The number of points awarded each season is divided by the number of teams that participated
for that association in that season.
This number is then rounded down to three decimal places.
To determine a country's coefficient for a particular season, the coefficients for the
last five seasons are added.
Bonus points are added to the number of points scored in a season.
Bonus points are allocated for: Clubs that reach the quarter-finals, semi-finals,
or final of either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.
Clubs that qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.
Clubs that qualify for the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Current ranking The ranking below takes into account of each
association's performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15, with the 2014–15
season currently taking place.
The final ranking at the end of the 2014–15 season will be used to determine the number
of places for each association in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League and 2016–17 UEFA Europa
League.
Note: Starting from the 2015–16 season, all associations will have a maximum of three
teams entering the Europa League.
As of 16 July 2014 the coefficients are as follows:
1 The winners of the league cups of England and France are given a place in the UEFA Europa
League by special permission from UEFA.2 The Liechtenstein Football Association does not
organize a national league competition as it does not have the necessary amount of national
clubs.
As a result, the only competitor from Liechtenstein in European competitions is the Liechtenstein
Cup winners, who qualify for the UEFA Europa League.
UEFA uses this coefficent system to decide which teams gain automatic entry to the group
stage and which teams must go through qualifying.
The teams who occupy the top three league places in the countries ranked 1 to 3 in UEFA
competition gain automatic entry into the group stages for the following season’s
Champions League competition.
The first and second placed teams in the countries ranked 4 to 6 also gain automatic entry, as
do the champions in the countries ranked 7 to 12.
The Champions League holders automatically get the chance to defend their title in the
following season’s competition.
Further information on Liechtenstein's status and similar cases.
According to the UEFA regulations a National League needs to consist of at least eight
clubs to be considered valid, otherwise no participants of such a league will be allowed
to enter European competitions.
There are only seven clubs that are active in Liechtenstein, all of which play in neighbouring
Switzerland's league competitions.
Note: prior to the introduction of the Welsh Premier League in 1992 Wales also had a single
participant, the winner of the Welsh Cup, in the European competitions.
History
Ranking has been published by UEFA since 1979 to identify the number of participants for
each country in the UEFA Cup after the re-organization of the Inter-cities Fairs Cup in 1971.
No calculation of coefficients took place prior to that.
Later, for statistical purposes, various rankings were introduced to portray the history of
competitions.
Because the Inter-cities Fairs Cup was limited only to certain clubs and/or by invitation
no coefficient calculation was necessary.
According to the prorated calculation system only four leagues have succeeded in being
the top European league.
Due to the Heysel Stadium disaster, all English teams were banned from UEFA competitions in
1985 and so the First Division didn't gain any coefficient points until the ban was lifted
after 5 seasons, directly affecting the ranking of the First Division and then the Premier
League for 9 years from 1986 to 1994; top in 1985, England's was unranked in 1990, and
would not regain the top position until 2008.
The table shows the ranking of nations with respect to the total number of years leading
in Europe: As of 24 May 2014
Club coefficient The club coefficient rankings are determined
by the results of clubs in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League over the
previous five seasons, as well as by the coefficient of the clubs' association.
The club coefficient is the sum of the points earned by the club over the five seasons plus
20% of the club's association coefficient.
The clubs receive two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a defeat
in games of the main stages of the Champions League and the Europa League.
Results determined after extra-time are included in this method, however results determined
after penalty shoot-outs are not.
Bonus points for entering the Europa League group stage are not additional to win/draw
points; they provide a minimum points allowance for participating clubs, whereas bonus points
for entering the Champions League group stage are additional to win/draw points.
Qualifying round results are only taken into account if the team is eliminated in one of
the rounds.
Otherwise, the qualifying round results are taken into account only for the calculation
of the association's coefficient and are halved.
The clubs do not receive any points for elimination in the Champions League third qualifying round
or the play-off because those teams move to the Europa League and receive points from
participation in that competition.
This ranking is used by UEFA to determine a club's seeding in club competition draws,
including the preliminary and first rounds of the Champions League, and the preliminary,
first and second rounds of the Europa League.
Before 1999 a number of strong teams in the UEFA Cup were seeded such that those teams
did not meet in the first two rounds.
To determine these teams, the sum of, the ratio of the number of points achieved to
the number of games played by each team, was calculated for the past five years.
UEFA Team Ranking The top 25 clubs as of 3 July 2014 are as
follows.
Top club by period Top-ranked clubs in each 5-year period listed
by year: Top-rated clubs listed by number of times
they were top-ranked over a 5 year period: Criticisms
The UEFA coefficient system has been criticised for being likely to preserve the status quo
for rankings and seedings, as well as for favouring teams from stronger nations.
In July 2014, Celtic manager Ronny Deila said that it "is stupid the Scottish coefficient
is not regarded as good enough."
See also FIFA World Rankings
References
External links Official UEFA rankings
League and club coefficients at xs4all.nl UEFA Access List