Coefficient race hots up! Serie A to have five teams in Champions League next season but Premier League faces battle to overhaul Bundesliga after Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal AND West Ham are all eliminated from Europe in the same week

According to ESPN, Serie A will have at least five teams in the Champions League in 2024/25 after securing one of the extra two spots in UEFA's coefficient rankings. This is because Roma and Atalanta reached the Europa League semi-finals and Fiorentina progressed to the last four of the Europa Conference League. Next season's revamped 36-team competition will see two leagues rewarded with an extra place through the 'European Performance Spots' and after Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and West Ham all crashed out of the Champions League and Europa League respectively, the Premier League looks to be out of the running for the extra spaces.

And with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund reaching the UCL last four, plus Bayer Leverkusen earning a semi-final Europa League spot, the Bundesliga is in second place in the rankings behind Serie A.

If there are no changes in the coefficient race, the fifth place side in Serie A will qualify for next season's UCL - a position Roma occupy, with Atalanta sixth. If either of them win the Europa League and finish outside the top four in the Italian top-flight, then Serie A will have six teams in the UCL in 2024/25. For all the talk of the Premier League being the best in the world, these figures do not bear that out.

The Champions League is being expanded from 32 teams to 36 next season, in what is known as a 'Swiss' format. Teams will play eight games in the qualifying stage - four home and four away, and the top eight sides will progress to the last 16 and ninth to 24th locking horns in two-legged play-offs.

Aston Villa are the Premier League's sole surviving team in Europe this season after they beat Lille on penalties to advance to the last four of the Europa Conference League.