From the 2024/25 season, the list of Champions League participants includes an element that many fans still mistake for a reward for the strongest clubs. European Performance Spots (EPS) are two additional places in the Champions League league phase, awarded not to clubs but to entire national associations for their collective results in European competitions.
Where did EPS come from?
The history goes back to the reform of UEFA club competitions, approved in May 2022. Originally, it was planned that some places in the new 36-team Champions League would go to clubs selected on the basis of a historical club ranking. This idea was supported by the biggest clubs, as it guaranteed a place in the Champions League even after a poor domestic season. UEFA ultimately abandoned access based on club coefficients in favour of a formula identifying which countries had achieved the most in Europe. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin stressed that the decision was meant to protect the principle of open competitions and qualification based on sporting merit.
| Country | Total | Teams left | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 |
England | 8.611 |
|
| 2 |
 |
Türkiye | 7.900 |
|
| 3 |
 |
Portugal | 7.900 |
|
| 4 |
 |
Germany | 7.857 |
|
| 5 |
 |
Spain | 7.750 |
|
| 6 |
 |
Belgium | 7.200 |
|
| 7 |
 |
Norway | 7.200 |
|
| 8 |
 |
Italy | 7.071 |
|
| 9 |
 |
Netherlands | 6.666 |
|
| 10 |
 |
France | 6.500 |
|
How does it work?
EPS places go to the two associations with the best collective results of their clubs in the previous season, that is, those with the highest so-called association coefficient. The mechanism works as follows:
- Every win by a club in any UEFA competition earns its league two points, a draw earns one, and a defeat earns zero.
- Bonus points are added for league phase standings, weighted by the rank of the competition: first place in the Champions League earns 12 points, in the Europa League six.
- The total points of all clubs from a given country are divided by the number of clubs that represented it.
Dividing by the number of teams is key: countries with many representatives have more opportunities to collect points, but they must also spread the result across a larger number of clubs.
The winning association does not nominate a club. The extra place goes to the best team in the domestic league among those that have not secured direct qualification to the league phase. In practice, this most often means fifth place in the table.
In the first season, 2024/25, the EPS were won by England and Italy.
What does EPS give?
For a league, it means prestige and real money from participating in the Champions League. For domestic clubs, the stakes rise: the fight for fifth place becomes just as important as the fight for fourth. There is also a cascading effect, because an additional club in the Champions League pushes places in the Europa League and Conference League further down the table.
Why does it matter?
EPS reinforces the principle that success in Europe pays off, while not allowing leagues to simply live off their history. However, critics point out that the wealthiest leagues with the largest number of representatives have a natural advantage. For fans, it is above all a reminder that every point earned by domestic clubs in Europe builds the position of the entire league, although the chances of a place in the top two remain, for now, very distant.