England risk falling to third in Uefa coefficient rankings

Aggregate defeat for Arsène Wenger's Arsenal against Bayern Munich means there will be no English representative in the Champions League last eight for the first time since 1996. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

England is at risk of falling behind Germany to third in Uefa's coefficient rankings by the end of the season following the worst performance in 17Champions League campaigns, with no Premier League side left in the competition.

Arsenal's aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich on Wednesday night assured the Bundesliga leaders a quarter-final place along with Borussia Dortmund and means there will be no English representative in the last eight for the first time since 1996.

English domination among Europe's elite has markedly dropped in the last two seasons. Last year only the eventual winners Chelsea made it to the quarter-finals but in the five previous campaigns 16 of the 40 teams to reach that stage were Premier League sides.

England began the current campaign on top of the Uefa coefficient rankings with 84.41 points, narrowly ahead of Spain who had 84.186 and Germany with 75.186. The latest official standings after last week's European matches had Spain ranked first with 85.882 points, England second with 79.820 and Germany third with 76.757.

An association's ranking is based on the results of each association's clubs in the five previous Champions League and Europa League seasons. It is done by an average figure, calculated by dividing the number of points obtained by the total number of clubs representing an association in that season's two club competitions.

Each team earns two points for a win and one for a draw in both the Champions League and Europa League and one additional point for each knockout round you progress in, although in the Champions League teams get four points for participating in the group stage and four points for qualifying from their group.

Arsenal accrued two points following their victory in Munich last night, despite losing the tie overall. However, with no English team left in the Champions League and as Bayern and Dortmund appear capable of going all the way this season, Germany could move up the national coefficient rankings by May.

If England are to hold on to second spot then they will need their teams competing in the Europa League to progress. Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea all play tonight and could advance to the quarter-finals, while Stuttgart will have to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Lazio to avoid exiting the competition.

While Germany leapfrogging England in the rankings may be symbolic and significant regarding the current status of the Premier League and Bundesliga, it would not impact on the number of Champions League places awarded.

Michel Platini, the Uefa president, may change the format beyond the 2015-16 campaign but presently the top three nations in Uefa's coefficient ranking are given four places in the tournament for the season after next, meaning this year's results will only come into effect during 2014-15.

Italy in fourth are some way behind the top three with 63.147 points and any threat from Serie A is unlikely, although Juventus are still in the Champions League.

Chelsea could potentially overtake Manchester United in the individual club rankings if they progress to the latter stages of the Europa League. The European champions are ranked fifth in the standings but are exactly six points behind United in fourth going into Thursday night's match with Steaua Bucharest.

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