How can the Bundesliga still earn a fifth UEFA Champions League spot for 2026/27?
Spain's unassailable coefficient tally means they have gained the right, alongside England, to a fifth team in next season's UEFA Champions League. But Freiburg's progress to the UEFA Europa League raises the prospect of the Bundesliga still winning an extra berth...
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.
There was a chance it could be a top five and not just the top four playing in Europe's top club competition - as was the case in 2024/25 - for the 2026/27 campaign.
However, after Bayern Munich exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage to holders Paris Saint-Germain, Freiburg were left as the Bundesliga's sole representative in European competition.
The Black Forest club beat Portugal's Braga 3-1 in their Europa League semi-final second leg, but Rayo Vallecano also won their UEFA Conference League second leg at Strasbourg, leaving Germany unable to claim second place from Spain in the UEFA coefficient rankings - no matter how Freiburg fare in the Europa League final against Aston Villa on 20 May.
Top 5 UEFA association season coefficients for 2025/26 (as of 7 May 2026)
- England - 28.125 (3/9 teams remaining)
- Spain - 22.093 (1/8)
__________________________________ - Germany - 21.642 (1/7)
- Portugal - 20.500 (0/5)
- Italy - 19.000 (0/7)
The UEFA association coefficient is used to rank the football associations of Europe, and thus determine the number of clubs from an association that will participate in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League the following season. It is determined by the results of the clubs of the associations involved in the aforementioned UEFA club competitions.
Find out how European qualifying works in the Bundesliga here
However, Germany could still join England and Spain in putting five teams into next season's Champions League. It just won't be the Bundesliga's top five.
That's because the winners of the Europa League also earn an automatic place in the Champions League, assuming they haven't already qualified via their domestic league.
Therefore, if Freiburg beat Aston Villa in Istanbul on 20 May to win their first major trophy, they will also compete in the Champions League for the first time ever, joining Bayern, Borussia Dortmund and then two out of RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart and Hoffenheim, who are jostling for the remaining two top-four spots over the final two matchdays.
Fifth and sixth place will compete in the Europa League.
Freiburg's result in the final, though, will impact Germany's seventh European team. If Julian Schuster's men win the Europa League and finish seventh, they will play in the Champions League, and no German team will be in the Conference League.
If they win it but finish eighth or below, then seventh will go into the Conference League play-offs, and Freiburg will be in the Champions League.
If Freiburg don't beat Villa, then there is no change to the qualifiers, with seventh going into the Conference League play-offs.
