How does UEFA decide how many teams represent their countries in each European club competition?
The results from the two main European club competitions earn points for each club playing and the countries those clubs belong to. The points earned by all the clubs from a country are added together and divided by the number of clubs participating from that country, to give a figure called the country coefficient. The country coefficients of the five last completed seasons are added together, and the member countries of uefa are then ranked in order, highest figure top. According to what place a country has in the country ranking, it is entitled to a particular number of places in the Champions League and in the Uefa Cup. Uefa also assigns the stage at which a country’s teams start in each competition from this ranking. In general, a win in a match gives 2 points, a draw 1 point. There are bonus points for reaching particular stages of a competition. Points earned in qualifying rounds count only half, and count only for the country co-efficient, not for the team that has earned them.
