Real Madrid’s Champions League exit costs them UEFA rankings lead to Bayern Munich
Real Madrid’s defeat and subsequent elimination from the Champions League against Bayern Munich last Wednesday continues to have consequences for the Spanish giants. That result has now directly impacted their position in the UEFA rankings.
Real Madrid have lost top spot after a long spell at the summit, overtaken by Bayern Munich. The German side now have 146.500 points, moving ahead of Los Blancos, who sit second with 144.500. The podium is completed by Liverpool, who also climbed one place and are now third with 130.000 points.
Of the four teams still remaining in the Champions League, the next best-ranked side are Paris Saint-Germain, who moved up one position to fifth place after their dominant win over Liverpool. Meanwhile, Arsenal have climbed to seventh, while Atletico Madrid have broken into the top ten.
The updated UEFA rankings after the Champions League quarterfinals:
1- Bayern Munich (146.500)
2- Real Madrid (144.500)
3- Liverpool (130.000)
4- Inter Milan (127.000)
5- PSG (126.500)
6- Manchester City (125.500)
7- Arsenal (113.500)
8- Barcelona (113.250)
9- Bayer Leverkusen (105.000)
10- Atletico Madrid (103.750)
How do the UEFA rankings work?
The UEFA rankings are a comparative system that evaluates the performance of clubs, national teams, and associations competing in European competitions, based on their results over a recent period. In the case of clubs, the calculation is based exclusively on performances in continental competitions, not domestic leagues.
That means results in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League are what matter. There is also a defined time frame used to assess those performances. “The season coefficients from the five most recent seasons are used to rank the clubs for seeding purposes,” UEFA explain on their official website.
There is also a separate ranking that considers the last ten seasons instead of five, though it is used for financial rather than sporting purposes: “The season coefficients from the ten most recent seasons are used to calculate revenue club coefficients for revenue distribution purposes only.”
In that alternate ranking, Bayern Munich also hold first place, with a slight edge over Real Madrid. The top two positions remain the same compared to the five-year ranking, but differences emerge further down: Manchester City sit third, while PSG and Barcelona round out the top five.