Everything you ever wanted to know about the UEFA club co-efficient system

Overview

UEFA uses 2 (connected) systems of ranking nations and clubs to decide what round teams enter Europe at, and how clubs are seeded within those rounds.  It is extremely nerdy, but if you can follow it, you might figure out why a team like Shamrock Rovers are seeded in the Europa League this year having not played in Europe last season.

What’s the League of Ireland’s co-efficient now?

Ireland is ranked in 40th place in Europe (of 54 nations) with a co-efficient of 5.750.  That score is calculated over a 5 year period (so in this case it relates to results by LOI clubs from 2010/11 to 2014/15). Ireland moved up from 43^rd last year.

So where did 5.750 come from?

The breakdown by year/club is;

And how do clubs add points to this national score?

Each positive result earns points for the national score.  In Qualification Rounds, clubs get 1 point for a win and 0.5 points for a draw.  This is doubled for the competition proper. The total points earned are then divided by the number of clubs entered to give the co-efficient for that year. For example - 2012/13

So Ireland earned a total of 4 points through 2 wins and 4 draws in qualifying.  That divides by 4 (the amount of teams that took part) to add 1 point to Ireland’s score. 

2013 saw all Irish teams exit at the first stage for the first time since 1999/2000. Out of 8 games, there were only 2 draws, therefore only 0.250 was added to the national co-efficient. Last season was much better with Dundalk gaining 3 wins, Sligo Rovers 2 wins and a draw, Derry City 2 wins and St Pats a single draw.

This season, all scores will be divided by 5 as, with UCD entering via the Fair Play League, we will have a record 5 teams in action.

So that’s the national score then, what does it affect?

The national score is used to determine what rounds countries enter both UEFA competitions at. You can see the access list here at Bert Kassies site for UEFA nerds; http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/access2015.html

You can see that Ireland in 43rd position (based on where countries finish at the end of the 2013/14 season) so all 3 Europa League competitors enter at the 1st Qualifying Round. The Champions, Dundalk, enter at the 2nd round in the Champions League.  A fall to 47th could see the LOI champs enter at QR1 (as the champions of the Irish league do). 

The range of teams where all three enter at QR1 in the Europa League is 26th to 51st. We’re likely to stay there for the foreseeable future. Our highest ever ranking was 29^th.

So what affects club seeding?

Clubs are seeded based on their own individual ranking, which has a (somewhat) different method of calculating points.  The club score is made up of 20% of the national score added to whatever club points they earn themselves.  As Ireland is on 5.75 that means that the lowest any Irish club could be is 1.125.  This applies to Cork City and UCD this season as they haven’t played in European competition in the qualifying period (ie from 2010).

So how are club points earned?

Before 2009/10 club points were only earned by positive results in the CL/UEFA Cup proper (ie qualification rounds didn’t count). Since 2009/10 teams have earned club points based on the round they exited European competition.  They are as follows;

There’s more for the knock-outs and results in the group stages but that’s not really relevant for us.

So what are the Irish club rankings then?

This table shows how each Irish’s clubs’ co-efficient has been built over the past five years

So you can see that individual qualifying results don’t really matter for club points purposes. In 2011/12 Pats and Sligo both earned a point for leaving at the EL 3rd QR.  Pats had won 2 rounds to get there, Sligo had entered there directly because of the then-strong National ranking.  Last season Dundalk won 3 games but only earned 0.5 because they exited at the 2^nd QR of the Europa League. St Pats earned 1 point because they exited at the 2^nd QR of the Champions League, even without winning a game.

Club points can still be earned for individual results in the group stages and knock out rounds (1 for draw, 2 for win) but Shamrock Rovers came up empty handed in the only Irish attempt at doing so so far.

And how does that affect seeding in each round?

All clubs in each round receive a co-efficient rating and then the top half become seeded, the bottom half unseeded.  Some draws are done together, or before the round is complete, so for the purposes of the draw UEFA assumes that the seeded teams will win the previous round in designating seeds for those rounds.

And this year?

In the Champions League 2nd QR, Dundalk will enter and be unseeded (they are the 2^nd lowest seeds in the round).  If they win, they may be seeded in the 3rd round if they draw one of the higher seeds in QR 2.  Their potential opponents would need a co-efficient of 22.225 or above for the winner of the Dundalk tie to be seeded (7 of the 17 teams are above this mark).

The lowest co-efficient score of the seeded teams in QR2 is 5.575. The highest ever score for an Irish team is 5.975 (St Pats after the 2012/13 season) so it shows how hard it is to become a seed in the Champions League.

In the Europa League QR 1, St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers will be seeded; Cork City and UCD will be unseeded.

In EL QR2, the winner of the ties involving Pats and Rovers will be unseeded. The winner of the ties involving Cork and UCD may be seeded, if their opponents have a co-efficient of 6.1 or above

The draws for QR1 and QR2 are made on the same day so they will know their potential opponents should they progress to QR1.

And how will the results affect my club’s ranking next year?

Each positive result will only add a fraction to the club’s individual co-efficient. Ireland will lose 1 point for next year (earned in 2010/11).  That means that if Irish teams lost every game next year the base LOI club score would be 0.950. 

That would rise by 0.04 with every Irish win and by 0.02 with every Irish draw in the qualifiers.  If every Irish club lost this year, next year’s rankings would be;