West Ham fans enjoyed a big win in Europe last night, but it is Tottenham and Aston Villa who may benefit from that victory the most, as the win bumps England up in the rankings for an extra Champions League spot this season.
The Premier League traditionally gets four entries to the Champions League each year, with the top four teams in the league gaining qualification to Europe’s elite competition.
There are anomalies to the rule, of course, like if an English team wins the Champions League, they will be granted a return regardless of Premier League position. The same now applies for those who win the Europa League, with winners moving into the Champions League the next year.
With UEFA changing the format of the Champions League for next season and including more teams, coefficient rankings have been introduced that allow two countries an extra spot in the competition.
Going into this week, Italy were top of those rankings, while Germany had a slight edge over England. But, with West Ham‘s 5-0 demolition of Freiburg in the Europa League last night, the tables have turned.
England set for five spots in the Champions League
Miguel Delaney tweeted on the matter, saying: “This West Ham result makes it a near certainty the Premier League will get five Champions League places.”
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With Spurs and Aston Villa fighting it out for the top four at the moment, West Ham’s progress has made that battle almost irrelevant now, aside from the obvious desire to finish as high as possible in the league regardless of Champions League rewards.
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Obviously, we want to keep winning games and try and break back into the mix at the very top of the league before the season is over. But, the fact that Champions League football is now easier to obtain is a nice safety blanket to have.
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