Why Italy Serie A will have five teams in next season’s Champions League

The Italian Serie A league will have five football clubs in the revamped Champions League next season (2024-25) after two teams from it secured a top two spot in the UEFA coefficient standings. Roma and Atalanta both made the semi-finals of the Europa League on Thursday while Fiorentina are in the last four of the Europa Conference League.

That means that Italy has a coefficient of 19.428 points, ahead of Germany (17.928 points) and England (17.375) and will take one of two extra spots in the tournament.

The Champions League will have 36 teams in the group stage from next season, four more than this term.

In some ways, it’s a reality check for England and English Premier League as only one team, Aston Villa, have
managed to reach the semi-finals
in Europe. Both Arsenal and Manchester City were knocked out at the quarter-finals stage of the Champions League while West Ham and Liverpool lost at last eight stage in Europa League.

Villa edged past Lille in Conference League, the third tier of continental football tournament in Europe, to reach the semi-finals.

Besides Serie A and EPL clubs, the other semi-finalists in European competitions are:

Champions League

Bayern Munich (German Bundesliga)

Borussia Dortmund (German Bundesliga)

Real Madid (Spanish La Liga)

Paris Saint-Germain (French Ligue 1)

Europa League

Bayer Leverkusen (German Bundesliga)

Olympique de Marseille (French Ligue 1)

Conference League

Olympiakos FC (Super League Greece)

Club Brugge (Belgian Pro League)