Co-efficient Corner: Back after the international break

It feels like ages since the last UEFA men’s club competition matches — but with the international break over, attention shifts back from the Nations League to club performances…

No change in the Top 8

The Top 8 remain as is: Manchester City defeated Sparta Prague 5–0 for two co-efficient points: they’re now on 134, and Real Madrid’s 5–2 win over Dortmund gave them two points for a total of 129. Another loss for Bayern Munich, this time at Barcelona, keeps them on 116, allowing Liverpool to make up a little ground following their win at RB Leipzig: they’re now on 108.

PSG’s draw against PSV gives them one co-efficient point, putting them on 94, and while Roma beat Dinamo Kyiv, they remain on 93 points: with one win and one draw to their name, their match points now equal the minimum three co-efficient points awarded to teams in this stage of the Europa League. They’ll start picking up points from Matchday 4 if they get a result against Union Saint-Gilloise. Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund’s loss at Real keeps them on 89 points, while Inter are gaining on them following their win at Young Boys: they’re now on 87.

This is bad news for Bayer Leverkusen, who could only draw with Brest and are on 83 points. Chelsea have drawn level with them, and the Bundesliga Champions are ahead of them by virtue of having picked up 11 co-efficient points this season in contrast to Chelsea’s 4.

Another good week for England

For the second matchday in a row, English clubs finish the week with six wins and one draw. In the Champions League, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa all won, picking up two co-efficient points for themselves.

In the Europa League, Spurs beat AZ, for three wins out of three, and adding two points to their co-efficient. It was Man United’s draw with Fenerbahçe gives them a point for the league table, but with three draws, they’ve only just reached the minimum co-efficient points for the Europa League. They’ll start adding to their total with a result against PAOK on Matchday 4.

Finally, Chelsea beat Panathinaikos 4–1, and zoom past the Conference League minimum of 2.5: win two wins, they now have four co-efficient points for the season.

So as every team’s results add to the Country Co-efficient, with a haul of 13 points divided by seven clubs, England’s co-efficient shot up by 1.857 points this week — enough to propel England into first place in the race for the European Performance Spots.

A good week for Scotland too

In contrast to the last matchday, which was grim for Scottish clubs, this week went very, very well. Rangers beat FCSB 4–0 at Ibrox, breaching the Europa League minimum and giving Rangers an extra co-efficient point.

With Hearts beating Omonia Nicosia at Tynecastle, it was an extra 1.5 points for them as they cruised past the Conference League minimum.

Celtic, meanwhile, drew 0–0 at Atalanta, a result not to be sneezed at, giving the club an extra point.

So in total, that’s five points divided by five clubs who entered at the start of the season: an extra point for the Scottish co-efficient.

That has implications for the Top 15: Scotland are just 0.075 points off overtaking Switzerland and ensuring two clubs in the Champions League qualifiers in 2026–27. There is less than half a point separating Greece in 13th and Israel in 17th: Denmark are in the mix as well. Only three of the five countries will have two representatives in Champions League qualifiers in 2026–27, and of those, two countries’ champions will enter the Play-off, guaranteeing at least the Europa League for them, so there’s a lot to play for.

An all-Ireland fixture, and a first win for The New Saints

For the remaining clubs from the UK and Ireland, the outlook was mixed, and seeing as Larne and Shamrock Rovers were playing each other, not everyone was going to celebrate.

And it was Shamrock Rovers who come away with the result: a 4–1 win at Larne. This means they break through the Conference League minimum and pick up an extra 0.5 points, also adding 0.5 points to the Republic of Ireland’s co-efficient and increasing the prospect of an Irish club entering the Europa League qualifiers in 2026–27.

Larne, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the Conference League table, and haven’t added any further points to either their or Northern Ireland’s co-efficient. Northern Ireland’s Cup Winners could yet start 2026–27 in the Conference League Second Qualifying Round, but unless Larne get a result from somewhere, it’ll require the continued suspension of Russian clubs (as now) and some serious title-holder rebalancing.

It was a far better night for Wales: The New Saints beat Astana 2–0 for their first ever League Stage win. While it doesn’t affect their Club Co-efficient — they’ll need another draw or win for that — it added 0.5 points to the Welsh co-efficient.

That had the effect of increasing the daylight ahead of Belarus (the only country below Wales in the rankings with teams still playing in Europe this season, and their sole representative, Dinamo Minsk, lost to HJK), but more importantly, it allowed Wales to overtake Georgia in the rankings, moving Wales up to 49th, and with only one country now capable of overtaking them, that guarantees them a spot in the Top 50. That in turn means that in 2026–27, Wales will regain the third Conference League place that they’d lost for next season.

The European Performance Spots

After this week, we have movement: England now enter the Top 2 after the second successive matchday in which English clubs pick up 1.857 points: they’re now on 8.571 points for the season.

Portugal drop to second — but still retain an EPS for now — three wins and two losses for their clubs gave them 1.200 points for a total of 8.200.

Next come Italy: five wins, a draw and two defeats give add 1.375 points to the Country Co-efficient, putting Italy’s 2024–25 co-efficient on 7.750 for third place.

Then come Germany, who are falling behind: three wins, a draw and four defeats total 0.875 points for the week, making it a little less likely that Germany will benefit from an EPS next season. There’s still all to play for though, and they’re on 7.250 for the season.

Czechia, who were second last week, drop to fifth: a draw and three losses saw them pick up 0.200 points for the week with a total of 7.100 for the season. With France just 0.029 points off them, it looks like Czechia’s hopes of an EPS are now receding.

What next?

We’re back to a two-week gap now! It looks like there’ll be domestic action to pay attention to next week, and European competition reconvenes on the 5th of November. This will be the halfway point in the competitions and while I wouldn’t expect any places in the knockout stages to be formally sealed, I’d expect the tables to be a decent reflection of the path to the Finals…