Raise an alarm for the Spanish league.
Last season's UEFA's official country coefficient had this to say:
England – 23.000
Italy– 22.357
Germany– 17.125
Spain– 16.571
Belgium– 14.200
Now that's Spain finishing in 4th, down from their usual placing in the top two for most of five seasons back:
2022-23: England and Italy
2021-22: England and the Netherlands
2020-21: England and Spain
2019-20: Spain and Germany
2018-19: England and Spain
What is it?
The coefficient system is designed to assess the overall strength of leagues.
Technically it is calculated by adding the points gained by all clubs in a country, and this result is divided by the number of clubs the country has in Europe. This yields the country's coefficient average.
The point is that the Spanish league is loosing strength. Please remember this is beyond having a Real Madrid or Barcelona and it's also beyond the Champions League, but this is the entire Spanish league and it's about all European competitions.
Also not that thesame point value accrue to any club for a victory no matter the competition. So a victory in the Champions leagues doesn't score more than a victory in the Conference league. This wisdom is necessary to also give those leagues with few or no teams in the Champions League group stage, a chance to move up the coefficient ranking. There are bonus points that help distinguish the competitions though.
Here are two of my comments somewhere during this year's summer:
"Benitez back in Spain! More of that, for the La Liga to topple Serie A."
"..The big deal is dat La Liga is poised to continue as it was last season. The big deal is dat last season a Barca cudnt confidently beat Liverpool. Loosing to Man U shud have told u a lot."
The first was my being impressed by Rafa Benitez, a top coach, signing for Celta Vigo. The second was after monitoring the entire summer, I wasn't impressed by the overall business in the La Liga, so I concluded that there won't be a change.
And it's happening
This is what is playing out at the moment, the Spanish league is struggling to keep pace at the top. Infact they have no single representative in the Conference league from the start. Meaning every week of European football, the Spanish league is shut-out from gaining a single coefficient point from this bonafide European competition.
Today the Champions league group stage is done with, even the Europa and Europa conference leagues group stages are over.
Now here is an estimate, based primarily on the Champions league results:
- Germany, 13.36
- Italy, 13.14
- England, 12.13
- Spain, 12.06
- France, 10.42
- Belgium, 10.20
You may observe that the La Liga has once again located that same 4th position they ended in last season. The matches of yesterday will alter this data above slightly(as this list is reviewed after each European match week), but it will be of no advantage to Spain because they have done nothing better than the top three here, in the Europa or conference league.
So this season I reckon that, it will be a story of the English and Italians dominating Europe. One will ask, "what of Germany?". Germany will be a factor definitely, even France should not be forgotten. The coefficient table has been changing from the start of the season — there was a time Turkey led – so I expected the kind of results I am seeing now.
My checks help me see the advantages England and Italy will have over Germany judging by the strength of their representation across all competitions.
It's a season of the English and Italians, basically.
Cheers