How can the Bundesliga earn a fifth UEFA Champions League spot?
Two leagues in Europe can now earn an extra UEFA Champions League qualifying spot for the following season. The Bundesliga had five teams in the competition as a result in 2024/25 and is well placed to repeat the feat in 2026/27.
The battle for a spot in the top four - and with it the chance to play Champions League football - is usually one of the most thrilling storylines in the course of a Bundesliga season, and this year will likely be no exception.
However, could it be the top five and not just the top four who make it into Europe's top club competition - as was the case in 2024/25 - for the 2026/27 campaign?
Just how can the Bundesliga claim an extra spot again?
Well, as part of its revamped format, Champions League organisers UEFA have, since 2024, awarded an extra qualification spot to the two best-performing leagues in the current season according to its own coefficient rankings.
There is a complicated points system behind that, but the more wins and further a league's teams go in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, the higher that league climbs in the rankings.
The Bundesliga currently sits third in the standings, putting the league well in contention at present for the extra Champions League spot. It also means Bayern Munich's quarter-final tie against Real Madrid will go a long way in determining the outcome of the race with Spain for second place.
Freiburg and Mainz are German football's other hopes for points in the Europa League and Conference League quarter-finals respectively.
Top 5 UEFA association club coefficients for 2025/26 (as of 20 March 2026)
- England - 24.791 (5/9 teams remaining)
- Spain - 20.281 (6/8)
- Germany - 19.428 (3/7)
- Portugal - 18.900 (3/5)
- Italy - 18.714 (2/7)
The Bundesliga has sent five representatives into Europe's elite club competition on a couple of previous occasions. Dortmund's run to the 2023/24 Champions League final helped the Bundesliga clinch an extra spot for being in the top two places on the UEFA Coefficient ranking, while Eintracht Frankfurt's 2021/22 Europa League victory saw them earn Champions League qualification for 2022/23 in addition to the four sides that qualified via the league.
It's worth noting, though, that the prospect of a German side lifting European silverware each year could in fact throw up the potential for a sixth Bundesliga qualifier.
That would happen if the side in question won the Champions League or Europa League and finished fifth or lower in the league - a distinct possibility in the case of Freiburg, for example. They would qualify as holders, the top four as normal, and then the next best-placed Bundesliga team as well.
However, if the side winning the Champions League or Europa League finish in the top four in the league, their holders berth in the Champions League will be passed to another country.
The prospect of Mainz winning the Conference League does not impact Champions League qualifiers, as they would enter the Europa League.
Find out how European qualifying works in more detail here
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