Spain on the Brink: Will Europe’s Champions League Edge Slip Away?
20 February 2026
As clubs chase qualification for European competitions this season, another battle unfolds among the continent's top leagues for an extra berth in the UEFA Champions League.
UEFA awards an additional two slots to leagues based on their season-long rankings, tying the decision to how their clubs performed in the previous campaign.
Marca's report suggests that repeating La Liga's feat from last year won't be easy; Spain, which this season managed to field five teams in the Champions League thanks to strong results from its continental representatives last season, continues the fight to grant the fifth-placed La Liga club a spot in the continent's top competition, but the path looks tougher this time.
Real Madrid and Celta Vigo won, while Atlético Madrid drew in Bruges, bolstering hopes that Spain's three representatives can reach the knockout rounds; they will join Barcelona, Real Betis, and Rayo Vallecano in the last 16, aiming to keep the run going and accumulate more points for Spain in UEFA's performance coefficient.
Spanish Dilemma
The problem is that England, which seems completely out of the race, has effectively secured the fifth seat, leading the coefficient ranking with 21.513 points so far.
Germany, currently second with 17.071 points, shows no signs of retreat.
Dortmund, Leverkusen, and Stuttgart won their playoff first legs, giving them a foothold in the round of 16 where they will meet Bayern Munich, Freiburg, and Mainz 05.
Portugal sits third with 16.600 points, but could lose one of its representatives if Real Madrid confirms superiority in the return leg against Benfica.
La Liga occupies fourth with 16.156 points, while Italy, after a rough week, has fallen behind the Spaniards with 16.071.
Spain's conundrum lies in the distribution of points: the six remaining clubs in European competitions share points across eight Spanish clubs this season, while Germany and Italy's totals are spread over seven clubs, and Portugal over five, giving those associations a mathematical edge.
How the clubs' coefficient is calculated?
The coefficient for each association in a given season is calculated by summing the points its clubs earn in the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa Conference League, then dividing by the number of clubs from that association that participated in those three competitions.
Points are awarded as follows:
2 points for a win; 1 point for a win in the qualifying rounds and playoffs.
1 point for a draw; 0.5 points in the qualifying rounds and playoffs.
0 points for a loss.
Clubs that reach the quarterfinals, semifinals, or final also earn extra points: 1.5 extra points for each round advanced in the Champions League; 1 extra point for each round advanced in the Europa League; 0.5 extra points for each round advanced in the Europa Conference League. These extra points also count toward the association's coefficient, making the race for the fifth seat a careful accounting contest just as challenging as the on-field battles.
Punchline 1: If math had a swagger, it would strut like a late volley—beautiful to watch, hard to defend.
Punchline 2: In football and in numbers, timing is everything—and the calculator never blinks, it just recalculates with a smirk.
