What latest UEFA coefficient rankings mean for Tottenham amid Aston Villa Champions League race

The battle between England and Germany for an extra spot in next season's Champions League could well be decided over the coming days. Amid the hope of the Premier League obtaining a fifth place at Europe's top table in the 2024/25 campaign, it is the Bundesliga who are in the driving seat at present ahead of the semi-finals of UEFA's three club competitions getting underway.

Italy have already sewn up an extra Champions League place for next season via the European Performance Spots, thus leaving England and Germany to go head-to-head for the second and final spot. For Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham, they will be hoping there is a late twist in the tale as they currently sit fifth in the Premier League table with five games remaining.

The Lilywhites do have two games in hand to play over Aston Villa in fourth but the current seven-point deficit could be too much to overcome in what remains of the season. As things stand heading into the latest round of European games, Italy top the European Performance Spots with a current coefficient score of 19.428, Germany are on 17.928 and England make up the top three with their score of 17.375.

The European Performance Spots are calculated by UEFA adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs across UEFA's three club competitions. A win is worth two points, a draw gets one point and no points are awarded for a defeat.

Teams are also awarded additional bonus points for how far they progress in a competition. Although the points did differ slightly in the group stage of the three competitions, reaching the semi-final of either of the three is worth a single point.

Once all the points are added up they are then divided by the number of clubs who started the season in