An extra Champions League berth is now on offer to two European leagues, and the Bundesliga grabbed five spots in 2024‑25. Can it repeat the feat for 2027‑28?
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The battle for a spot in the top four – and with it the chance to play Champions League football – is usually one of the most thrilling storylines in the course of a Bundesliga season.
However, since UEFA’s revamp of its competitions from 2024/25, with the expansion of the Champions League to 36 teams, there are now additional routes to reach European club football’s top table.
As well as winning the Champions League or Europa League, there are now two European Performance Spots that are awarded to the two leagues with the highest coefficient ranking over the course of that season.
There is a complicated points system behind that, but the more wins and further a league’s teams go in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, the higher that league climbs in the rankings.
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Bayer Leverkusen have made a perfect winning start to the 2026/27 Europa League. – COSTAS METAXAKIS –>
Last season the league missed the top‑two finish, even as Freiburg stormed to the Europa League final. England and Spain claimed the bonus slots, sending Liverpool and Real Betis into the 2026‑27 group stage.
Despite a long way to go this campaign, the current coefficient table paints a hopeful picture. Early wins from Bayern, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim and Freiburg boost the numbers.
Top ten associations – 2026/27 coefficients (as of 23 Oct 2026)
- England – 7.944 (9/9 teams still in Europe)
- Germany – 7.285 (7/7)
- Spain – 7.250 (8/8)
- Portugal – 7.100 (5/5)
- Turkey – 7.100 (4/5)
- Belgium – 6.800 (5/5)
- Netherlands – 6.666 (6/6)
- Norway – 6.600 (4/5)
- Italy – 6.500 (7/7)
- For my money, Germany’s steady coefficient makes a fifth slot realistic, provided clubs keep delivering results.
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An unbeaten start in the Champions League for VfB Stuttgart has kept the Bundesliga ahead of Spain’s La Liga in the early months of 2026/27. – THOMAS KIENZLE –> <!–>
The Bundesliga has sent five representatives into Europe’s elite club competition on a couple of previous occasions. Dortmund’s run to the 2023/24 Champions League final helped the Bundesliga clinch an extra spot for being in the top two places on the UEFA coefficient ranking, while Eintracht Frankfurt’s 2021/22 Europa League victory saw them earn Champions League qualification for 2022/23 in addition to the four sides that qualified via the league.
It’s worth noting, though, that the prospect of a German side lifting the Champions League or Europa League each year could in fact throw up the potential for a sixth Bundesliga qualifier.
That would happen if the side in question finished fifth or lower in the league. They would qualify as holders, the top four as normal, and then the next best-placed Bundesliga team as well.
However, if the side winning the Champions League/Europa League finish in the top four in the league, that berth as holders will be passed to another country according to UEFA’s regulations.
Find out how European qualifying works in the Bundesliga here
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