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.
National team coefficient
Until before Euro 2008
The national team coefficient is derived from the results of the national football team of a nation. Until the end of the Euro 2008 tournament, it has been calculated by 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 European Championship, and the final tournament of the European Championship. Its usage as seeding criteria for the World Cup preliminaries ended when the UEFA executive committee decided to follow FIFA directives and used the FIFA rankings instead for the 2010 World Cup qualifying round draw. 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.
From after Euro 2008
On 20 May 2008, UEFA announced the change of the coefficient ranking system. [cite web |url= http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=698237.html?cid=rssfeed&att=index|title= EXCO approves new coefficient system| date=2008-05-20 | accessdate=2008-05-21 |publisher= UEFA] [cite web |url= http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefa/KeyTopics/69/80/93/698093_DOWNLOAD.pdf|title= New UEFA National Team Coefficient Ranking System| date=2008-05-20 | accessdate=2008-05-21 |format=PDF |publisher= UEFA] ]Under the new system, teams gain ranking points for each match played in the most recently completed five qualifying tournaments or finals of the World Cup or European Championships. 10,000 points are awarded for playing a match, with an additional 30,000 for winning, 20,000 for winning after a penalty shoot out, and 10,000 for a draw (including forcing, but failing to win, a penalty shoot-out). Matches in the finals tournament, or play-offs to determine qualification, are granted extra points, ranging from 6,000 to 38,000. 501 points are earned for scoring a goal, and 500 lost for each goal conceded. Points are divided by the number of games played, and more recent tournaments have double the weighting of the one most distant in time. Special arrangements are in place for hosts of competitions, who have therefore not participated in the qualifying tournament.
At the beginning of the Euro 2008 tournament, the rankings thus calculated are: 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.
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 2007 ranking determines the proportion in 2008–09, not 2007–08.
This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the leagues in UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League games 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 to three decimal places (e.g. 2 2/3 will be rounded to 2.667).
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 Champions League and UEFA Cup 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.
Current ranking (2009-10 UEFA competitions)
"Correct as of May 21, 2008"
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. Before 2004 the contribution of the country coefficient was 50%. The points earned by a club in the preliminary rounds are not counted. [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/index.html#crank]
The clubs get two points for a win and one point for a draw in games of the main stage of European competitions. Participation in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League is rewarded with three points. Reaching every knock-out round (1/8 of the final, quarter-final, semi-final or final) of Champions League or UEFA Cup is rewarded with a point (See [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/faq/index.html UEFA Coefficients FAQ] ).
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.
Before 1999 a number of strong teams in the UEFA Cup were seeded such that those teams do not meet in the first two rounds. To determine these teams, the sum of the ratio of the number of points achieved, divided by the number of games played by each team, was calculated for the past five years.
The top 20 clubs as of 2007-08 UEFA competitions are as follows:
* A full list can be found at [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2008.html amateurs website by Bert Kassies]
* An incomplete list from uefa.com; [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=551776.html Champions League 07/08 lineup] & [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/news/kind=1/newsid=727066.html UEFA Cup 08/09 line-up]
References
External links
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/ Independent but generally respected site about the league and club coefficient]
* [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=584172.html League coefficient by uefa.com]
* [http://www.uefa.com UEFA]
* [http://www.bloxster.net/rdasilva/4657/ Euro 2008 coefficient according to rdasilva's blog for the qualification-groups]
* [http://www.bloxster.net/rdasilva/39840/2008+European+Championship+Seedings.html Euro 2008 coefficient according to rdasilva's blog for the final tournament, group phase]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/nj/sivritepe/0708/ucups0912.pdf UEFA Access List]
* [http://www.football-rankings.info/2008/09/euro-2012-qualifying-draw-coefficients_11.html Euro 2012 coefficient according to football-rankings.info]
* [http://www.world-results.net/uefa/ranking.html#2009 Euro 2012 coefficient according to world-results.net]
