Spain surpasses Italy in the UEFA rankings and takes the 2nd position. If the season was to finish now, they would have 5 teams in the next edition of the Champions League
The ugly defeat against Borussia Dortmund risks ending Milan’s journey in the Champions League group stage, but that defeat also hurts the Italian football. The loss at San Siro, in fact, currently costs Italy a position in the UEFA seasonal ranking, as La Liga overtakes Serie A.
While awaiting Inter and Napoli, Lazio‘s qualification in the next round was not enough to maintain the 2nd position. Currently, Italy would not have a bonus spot in the new Champions League 2024/25 (the fifth team), reserved for the top 2 federations in the ranking, which are currently Germany and Spain, while Italy has slipped to third place.
The race is still long, and nothing is decide, but for now, Spain has secured the qualification of Real Madrid, Real Sociedad Barcelona and Atletico Madrid having a full set of teams in the Champions League round of 16.
Despite having having a struggling national team, Germany is doing really well at the club level and leads the UEFA ranking with 11,071 points, ahead of Spain with 10,437 and Italy with 10,143. In fourth place, but far behind, is Turkey 8,750, followed by Belgium and England. (England is expected to go up as the season progresses, as the current ratings were counted including the qualification matches)
Italy will have a hard time getting that spot, with Lazio and Napoli very probably finishing on the second position in their groups, they will have to face a group winner, which might come in the form of Bayern Munich, Manchester City or Barcelona. Games that could be really tough for our Serie A teams to overcome.
The real hope lies with Inter, a team capable of reaching the Champions League final, as seen in the last season. In this one, the ‘Nerazzurri‘ look even stronger, but even they might face very difficult opponents going forward.
Regardless, the season is long and in football everything is possible.
