After completing the group stage of the three major European cups, Serie A became the big winner, with 7 teams participating, all of which can be played in Europe. In the Bundesliga, the Premier League and La Liga, there are six teams left, and it is worth paying attention to Ligue 1, none of the six teams participating in the competition have been eliminated. Next season's Champions League "bonus" places will be highly volatile, with the Premier League and La Liga all dropping out of the top two, while Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are far ahead as the three best clubs in Europe.
Due to the change in the rules of the Champions League, the group stage will be cancelled next season and it will become a round-robin tournament in the form of a big round-robin. At the same time, the 32 participating teams have been expanded to 36 teams, and the four major leagues still retain their four participating places. The four extra places, two of which are fixed, with one each in the championship and non-championship groups, will not have any impact on the four major leagues. The other two places are in the nature of "rewards", and the two leagues with the best performance in a single season will be added by an additional one.
To put it simply, for the four major leagues, only by striving to be the best two leagues of the season will one more place be added, so that the league "fight for four" becomes "fight for five". Over the past five years, the top two have been the Premier League and La Liga, La Liga and Bundesliga, the Premier League and La Liga, the Premier League and the Eredivisie, and the Premier League and Serie A, with the Premier League finishing in the top two four times, La Liga three times and the Bundesliga, Eredivisie and Serie A once each.
It can be seen that the four major leagues basically "monopolize" the top two, and the Eredivisie was second only to the Premier League in the previous season, mainly because of Ajax's victory in the Champions League group and the large number of points brought by Feyenoord reaching the final of the European Cup. Then-Ajax boss Ten Hag, who was favored by Manchester United for his outstanding performances in the Champions League in the past two years, arrived at Old Trafford last year and also included the likes of Onana, Lima and Antony.
The league standings are calculated by dividing the number of points earned by all teams by the total number of teams, and the points include the number of points for the result of the win, as well as special rewards, such as the Champions League. According to the rules of calculation of a single season, the non-four major leagues also have a chance to enter the top two, because there are not many teams participating in these leagues, the "denominator" is relatively small, as long as there are two or three teams that perform well, even if it is a low-level Europa League or Europa League, it can bring a lot of points, which can bring a significant increase in the ranking, and the Eredivisie last year is a good example.
For the teams participating in the four major leagues, due to the large number of participating teams, the "denominator" is larger, and if more than one team is out, it will greatly affect the ranking of a single season. For example, in this season's La Liga, Osasuna lost to Club Brugge in the qualifying round of the European Cup, Manchester United and Newcastle in the Premier League did not even qualify for the Europa League, plus Sevilla, which is also at the bottom of the group, making the Premier League and La Liga, eight teams participate, and only six teams can stay at present, which is the main reason for the low ranking.
According to the latest Europa League points rankings, all the remaining Serie A ranks first, only the Bundesliga, which is out of Union Berlin, ranks second, and the Premier League and La Liga, where the two teams are out, are ranked third or fourth respectively. As a result, Serie A has become a popular league for "bonus" places, and next season's fifth-place finish, there is a good chance of being able to participate in the Champions League.
It is worth paying attention to Ligue 1, all six teams can stay, Paris Saint-Germain enters the last 16 of the Champions League, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes and Lens will all participate in the Europa League play-offs, and Lille enters the last 16 of the Europa League. Although Ligue 1 is currently ranked seventh, the gap between it and the second place is not too big, due to the small "denominator", as long as the four teams participating in the Europa League play-offs can advance to the round of 16, Ligue 1 is also expected to counterattack and squeeze into the top two.
It is a little regrettable that Manchester United is in a group where the opponent is not strong, but this Premier League giant, with four defeats, left the European arena early. However, Manchester City and Arsenal are in good shape, with Liverpool and Aston Villa among the contenders for the Europa League and Europa League, while Brighton and West Ham are also in contention for the semi-finals. Therefore, even without Manchester United and Newcastle, the Premier League is not desperate, and there is still no small chance of trying to get into the top two in a single season.