England, Spain, Germany, Italy will soon have 4 representatives entering the Champions League group stage directly.
Starting from the 2018/19 Champions League season, the top 4 European national championships, England, Spain, Germany and Italy, will have 4 representatives going straight to the group stage.
 |
According to UEFA's announcement, England, Spain, Germany and Italy are the top four football associations in the European Football Federation's rankings after the end of this season.
France and Russia are behind, ahead of Portugal. Also according to the amendments applied to European cups, the four football federations leading the rankings will have four teams go straight into the Champions League group stage.
Currently, La Liga, Bundesliga, Premier League only have the top three clubs in each league get direct entry to the Champions League group stage. The club that finishes the national championship season in fourth place has to participate in two play-off matches (the final qualifying round) to compete for a ticket to the Champions League group stage next season.
 |
| Rating of European countries from 2010/11 season to the end of 2016/17 season. |
Serie A currently has only the top two clubs qualifying directly for the Champions League group stage, while the third-placed team has to go through a two-legged play-off round. The fourth-placed club can only play in the Europa League.
However, with the newly announced information, Serie A has become the tournament that benefits the most from UEFA, when of course there are two more teams that go straight to the Champions League group stage, bringing this number to 4 teams, equal to the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga.
The 5th and 6th ranked nations (France, Russia) have two teams go straight into the group stage, while the third-placed team in their domestic league will go into the play-offs. Meanwhile, the 7th to 10th ranked nations (Portugal, Ukraine, Belgium, Türkiye) have one team go straight into the group stage and one team go into the preliminary round.
According to Bongdaplus
