England winning race for extra Champions League spot

Bournemouth are currently fifth in the Premier League table

The Premier League is on course to gain an extra Champions League place for next season based on the performances of English sides in Europe.

Two leagues across Europe will each be rewarded with an additional spot in the 2025-26 Champions League as a reward for their coefficient ranking.

England leads the coefficient rankings table, putting the Premier League on track to offer a path into the Champions League for the club that finishes fifth in the table.

But there is still work to be done...

How do countries earn an extra Champions League spot?

Each country's league earns a coefficient ranking based on how their teams perform in UEFA's three men's club competitions: the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

Coefficient points are earned through match results - two for a win and one for a draw.

The points earned by clubs from the same domestic league are added up and divided by the number of clubs the league has in Europe.

For example, if the Premier League had 100 points, that would be split by the number of teams playing in Europe (seven) and give England a coefficient of 14.28.

This season, bonus points are available to clubs playing in the Champions League, which is advantageous to leagues with more clubs competing in it, such as Germany and Italy.

Countries that finish in the top two of the coefficient table earn an additional Champions League spot for the following season.

Those spots are awarded to the teams which finish in the first position below the standard Champions League allocation in those leagues.

In the Premier League, the top four clubs automatically qualify for the Champions League via league position, so any additional place would go to the team in fifth.

Additional spots for the 2024-25 Champions League were given to Bologna and Borussia Dortmund, who finished fifth in Serie A and the Bundesliga respectively.

Who is leading the coefficient table?

At present the Premier League is in the driving seat, with six of its seven teams reaching the last 16 across all three Uefa competitions.

Manchester City's defeat to Real Madrid is the only blot on the landscape for England, with Spain in third place for now.

However, Italy, who are second, endured a dismal time in February with AC Milan, Atalanta and Juventus all losing in the Champions League knockout play-off round - limiting Serie A's opportunity to gather more points.

Germany's prospects appear difficult with Bayern Munich and Dortmund in the same half of the Champions League draw.

Likewise France. Paris St-Germain and Lille are the representatives remaining in the Champions League, with Monaco and Brest exiting at the play-off stage. Lyon, in the Europa League, are the only other French side left in European competition.

Meanwhile, Portugal has four of its five teams remaining but lost Sporting who were defeated by Borussia Dortmund. They could do with Porto edging past Roma in the Europa League play-offs to boost hopes of making up ground on the top five.

Which Premier League team could get bonus spot?

The Premier League table as of 20 February

Should the Premier League earn an additional spot, the team finishing fifth this season will qualify for the 2025-26 Champions League.

Bournemouth currently occupy that position.

The Cherries moved into fifth place last weekend as Chelsea and Newcastle suffered defeats.

But, while Liverpool and Arsenal look fairly assured of finishing in the top five, every club from Nottingham Forest in third to Brighton in 10th remain in the mix for Champions League qualification.

Just 10 points separates the eight clubs from third to 10th. That is the second closest points gap in Premier League history at the same stage, and it means the race for Champions League places could be more interesting than the title or relegation this season.

What about the Europa League winners?

England could end up with six Champions League teams next season.

The winners of the Europa League are also granted a Champions League slot.

Under previous rules, any single league could only have a maximum of five clubs in the Champions League.

However, that rule has been scrapped.

This season any team that wins the Europa League but do not qualify for the Champions League via their domestic league position will go into the Champions League - as well as the domestic qualifiers.

This raises the possibility of Manchester United or Tottenham, who are both through to the knockout stage of the Europa League but languish in the bottom half of the Premier League, qualifying for the Champions League alongside the top five.

'Premier League can't take anything for granted'

By the time UEFA's three club competitions reached their quarter-final phase last season, the Premier League was well placed to claim one of the two coveted European performance slots.

But the elimination of Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and West Ham shredded those hopes, with Aston Villa's exit from the semi-finals of the Conference League confirming the failure as Italy and Germany benefited.

The speedy collapse of those hopes means no-one will take anything for granted this time around.

However, England is in an even stronger position this season. It would now take a complete capitulation for the Premier League's fifth-placed team not to qualify for next season's tournament.

There is still a potential for shocks and once the draw for the knockout stages is made on Friday we will have a greater idea of where it could go wrong for the Premier League.

When is the Champions League last-16 draw?

The draw for the last-16 stage of the Champions League is on Friday, 21 February from 11:00 GMT.

You can watch the draw on the BBC Sport website and app, as well as following our live text coverage.

We'll also have updates from the Europa League (12:00 GMT) and Conference League (13:00 GMT) draws.