Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Augsburg or SC Freiburg have the opportunity to play in the Champions League next season – if certain requirements are met. The opportunity opens up because the number of participants in the premier class is increased from 32 to 36 clubs thanks to the new game mode. Two of the four additional Champions League places go to the countries with the best UEFA annual coefficient, and Italy and Germany are currently in the lead, closely followed by England. Borussia Dortmund would therefore move into the additional starting place as the current fifth place in the Bundesliga.
In this case, even sixth place for the premier class is possible. That would be the case if BVB wins the Champions League and at the same time finishes at most fifth in the table. Dortmund would qualify as defending champions and the Bundesliga would receive sixth place. And this is where the three clubs mentioned above come into play: Frankfurt, Freiburg and Augsburg currently occupy sixth, seventh and eighth place in the Bundesliga table. Theoretically, they would have a chance of gaining access to the Champions League’s bulging pool of money next season.
If Dortmund were to win the Champions League in this scenario and at the same time achieve fourth place or better in the Bundesliga, there would be no sixth place (despite double qualification by BVB) due to a special UEFA regulation.
At least second place in the UEFA ranking is currently likely. With Bayer Leverkusen reaching the semi-finals, the Bundesliga consolidated its position and slightly increased its lead over the Premier League. Behind Italy (19.429), Germany now has 17.929 points. England has 17.375 points, as calculated by the DPA.
In the duel with England, the German clubs have an advantage because, with Aston Villa in the Conference League, there is only one English club left in the title race. In the Champions League, Manchester City were eliminated by Real Madrid and Arsenal FC were eliminated by FC Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Liverpool FC failed in the Europa League against Atalanta Bergamo, West Ham United lost out to Bayer Leverkusen.
If there was a tie on points at the end of the season, England would get their place based on the previous year’s results. They calculate the points as follows: There are two points per win, each draw brings one point, each advance brings another point. All ranking points earned are divided by the number of clubs in a country that competed in the European Cup. Seven German clubs were eligible to compete internationally this season, so each ranking point earned corresponds to 0.143 points. In the Premier League, which started with eight teams, it is 0.125 points.
