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I don't actually know how long these latest (final) rankings have been out; they made the rounds on Reddit today but perhaps their attentions have been fully turned towards the World Cup just like ours. For what it's worth, we ran a similar article one year and 18 days ago, though that was based on the ever-excellent and ever-obsessive work of Bert Kassies.
In any case, in a development almost as tragic as England's midfield, Chelsea have dropped one spot from third to fourth in UEFA's club coefficient rankings. Real Madrid's tremendous Champions League has vaulted them straight to the top, pushing everybody else previously in the top three down. Yet the four teams with the highest coefficients do stay the same, just ordered a bit differently:
- Real Madrid (161.542 pts): +3 spots from 2012/13
- Barcelona (157.542 pts): -1 spot from 2012/13
- Bayern Munich (154.328 pts): -1 spot from 2012/13
- Chelsea (140.949 pts): -1 spot from 2012/13
What does this mean? Not much at all for us and Pot 1 status.
Our last three seasons in Europe have resulted in a Champions League trophy, a Europa League trophy, and a Champions League semifinal appearance. And since UEFA's lookback window remains the highly arbitrary, highly lengthy five years, and our lead over fifth place is a healthy 10+ points, we have nothing to really worry about for at least two more seasons. Unlike, say, Internazionale or Liverpool. In fact, Liverpool made it back into Europe just in the nick of time and now have a chance to stay ahead of such powerhouses as Ruben Boilers Rubin Kazan, or APOEL, or Genk!
Chelsea of course remain the highest ranked English team, ahead of Manchester United (6th), Arsenal (9th), Tottenham Hotspur (19th), Manchester City (22nd), and Liverpool (32nd).
The most obvious application of these rankings will come at Champions League group stages draw-time. Right now, our nightmare scenario looks a bit like this (assuming all favorites make it into the draw from the qualifiers): Chelsea, BVB, Napoli, Monaco.