UEFA coefficients

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In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions.

The coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe. It uses three different coefficients:

The coefficient of the national teams;
The coefficient of national leagues;
The coefficient of football clubs.

The national team coefficients use three points for a win and one for a draw, while the league and club coefficients, two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw.

1 The coefficients
2 Notes
3 External links

[edit] The coefficients

[edit] National team coefficient

The national team coefficient is derived from the results of the national football team of a nation. It is calculated dividing the number of points scored (three points for a win, one for a draw) by the number of matches played in the last two qualification rounds of the World Cup or European Championship. Play-off match results are ignored. For some countries only one qualifying round will be taken into account, if they were hosts of one of the last two events.

This coefficient is used by UEFA to determine in which "pot" a national team will be for the qualification tournaments of the World Cup and European Championship, and the final tournament of the European Championship. Each team in a pot is drawn into a separate qualifying group, thus keeping the bigger teams apart until the later stages of the competition.

If two or more associations have the same coefficient, the following criteria will be applied:

coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition,
average goal difference,
average number of goals scored,
average number of away goals scored,
drawing of lots.

[edit] Current ranking for the EC 2008 qualifying rounds

Rank	Team	Coefficient
1	Greece<ref>Greece will be first seeded, as European champion</ref>	1.950
2	Netherlands	2.550
3	Portugal	2.500
4	England	2.500
5	Czech Republic	2.450
6	France	2.444
7	Sweden	2.278
8	Germany	2.250
9	Croatia	2.222
10	Italy	2.222
11	Turkey	2.100
12	Poland	2.056
13	Spain	2.056
14	Romania	1.950
15	Serbia and Montenegro	1.889
16	Russia	1.850
17	Denmark	1.850
18	Norway	1.778
19	Bulgaria	1.778
20	Ukraine	1.750
21	Slovakia	1.650
22	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.611
23	Ireland	1.556
24	Belgium	1.556
25	Latvia	1.550
26	Israel	1.500
27	Scotland	1.500
28	Slovenia	1.444
29	Hungary	1.389
30	Finland	1.300
31	Estonia	1.250
32	Wales	1.167
33	Lithuania	1.111
34	Albania	1.050
35	Iceland	0.944
36	Georgia	0.850
37	Macedonia	0.750
38	Belarus	0.722
39	Armenia	0.700
40	Northern Ireland	0.667
41	Cyprus	0.667
42	Moldova	0.611
43	Liechtenstein	0.450
44	Azerbaijan	0.389
45	Andorra	0.250
46	Malta	0.222
47	Faroe Islands	0.111
48	Kazakhstan	0.083
49	Luxembourg	0.000
50	San Marino	0.000

Austria (1.333) and Switzerland (1.833) are already assured of places at Euro 2008 as host nations.

[edit] League coefficient

The league coefficient is used to rank the leagues of Europe, and thus determine the number of clubs from a league that will participate in competitions such as the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the leagues over the past five seasons. The number of points awarded each season (two for each win by a club from that league, one for a draw) is divided by the number of teams that participated for that nation in that season. This number is then rounded down to three decimal places (e.g. 2 2/3 will be rounded to 2.666).

For the league coefficient the season's league coefficients for the last five seasons must be added up. In the preliminary rounds of both the awarded points are halved. Bonus points are allocated for:

Qualifying for the Champions League group phase. (3 bonus points)
Reaching the second round of the Champions league.
Reaching the quarter, semi and final of both Champions League and UEFA cup.

The bonus points are added to the number of points scored in a season.

[edit] Current ranking

The UEFA ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next, not in the first season after the publication of the ranking. Thus, the 2006 ranking determines the proportion in 2007–08, not 2006–07.

Note: UEFA only publish country rankings at the end of each football season. While some independent web sites are proficient at applying UEFA calculations to give interim figures during the season, these should be taken as unofficial estimates, and not as categorical fact.

Here's the table showing the 2006 ranking:

Rank	League	Coeff.	CL places	UEFA Cup places
1	Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	72.748	4	3
2	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	66.731
3	Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England	63.486
4	Image:Flag of France.svg France	50.781	3
5	Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	48.364
6	Image:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal	44.041
7	Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	41.331	2	4
8	Image:Flag of Greece.svg Greece	32.081		4
9	Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg Russia	31.833		2
10	Romania	39.832
11	Image:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland	30.375
12	Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium	30.250
13	Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine	26.600
14	Image:Flag of the Czech Republic (bordered).svg Czech Republic	26.575
15	Image:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey	26.166
16	Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland	25.875	1	3
17	Image:Flag of Bulgaria (bordered).svg Bulgaria	24.290
18	Image:Flag of Israel (bordered).svg Israel	21.541
19	Image:Flag of Norway.svg Norway	20.975
20	Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria	20.375
21	Image:Flag of Serbia (state) (bordered).svg Serbia	19.999
22	Image:Flag of Poland (bordered).svg Poland	18.500		2
23	Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark	16.950
24	Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary	14.665
25	Image:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia	14.083
26	Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden	13.249
27	Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia	12.332
28	Image:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus	10.165
29	Image:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia	10.165
30	Image:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Bosnia and Herzegovina	8.165
31	Image:Flag of Finland (bordered).svg Finland	7.373
32	Image:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia	7.164
33	Image:Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova	6.832
34	Image:Flag of Georgia (bordered).svg Georgia	6.331
35	Image:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania	5.832
36	Image:Flag of Macedonia.svg FYR Macedonia	5.331
37	Image:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland	4.832
38	Image:Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Liechtenstein<ref>Liechtenstein Football Association doesn't organize any league competition, and the only competitor from Liechtenstein in the international competitions is the Liechtenstein cup winner, that qualifies for the UEFA Cup. All of the Liechtenstein teams play in the Swiss league competitions.</ref>	4.500	0	1
39	Image:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus	4.415	1	2
40	Image:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland	4.331
41	Image:Flag of Albania.svg Albania	3.665
42	Image:Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia	2.998
43	Image:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia	2.665
44	Image:Flag of Malta (bordered).svg Malta	2.665
45	Image:Flag of Wales (bordered).svg Wales	2.332
46	Image:Flag of Northern Ireland (bordered).svg Northern Ireland	2.332
47	Image:Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan	1.999
48	Image:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg	1.832
49	Image:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Kazakhstan	1.666
50	Image:Flag of the Faroe Islands (bordered).svg Faroe Islands	1.665
51	Image:Flag of San Marino.svg San Marino	0.000	0	1
52	Image:Flag of Andorra.svg Andorra	0.000	0	1

[edit] Club coefficient

The club coefficient is determined by the results of a club in European club competition in the last five seasons, and the league coefficient. The club coefficient is 33% of the league coefficient plus the number of points earned by the club in the five seasons. The points earned by a club in the preliminary rounds are not counted.

This ranking is used by UEFA to determine which pot the club belongs to in the preliminary and first rounds of the Champions League, and the preliminary, first and second rounds of the UEFA Cup.

Note, UEFA only publish club rankings at the end of each football season. While some independent web sites are proficient at applying UEFA calculations to give interim figures during the season, these should be taken as unofficial estimates, and not as categorical fact.

The estimated top 10 clubs as of May 2006 (following the UEFA Champions League final) are as follows:

Position	Club	Country	Coefficient
1	AC Milan	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	129.020
2	FC Barcelona	Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	127.006
3	Real Madrid	Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	120.006
4	Internazionale	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	112.020
5	Juventus	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	107.020
6	Liverpool	Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England	105.950
7	Arsenal	Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England	101.950
8	Manchester United	Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England	100.950
9	Valencia	Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	95.006
10	Lyon	Image:Flag of France.svg France	89.757