UEFA coefficient

In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), and later applied in women's football and futsal, the coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe, and the Asian parts of some transcontinental countries. The confederation publishes three types of rankings: one each analysing a single season, a five-year span, and a ten-year span. For men's competitions, three sets of coefficients are calculated: National team coefficient: used during 1997–2017 to rank national teams for seeding in the UEFA Euro qualifying and finals tournaments. UEFA decided after 2017 to instead seed national teams based on the: Overall ranking of the biennial UEFA Nations League for the seeded draw of groups in the UEFA Euro qualification stage. Overall ranking of the UEFA Euro qualification stage for the seeded draw of groups in the UEFA Euro final tournament. Association coefficient: used to rank the collective performance of the clubs of each member association, for assigning the number of places, and at what stage clubs enter, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League. Club coefficient (since 1990): used to rank individual clubs, for seeding in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (until 1999) and UEFA Conference League (since 2021). For the expanded format of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA has used a mixed style of seeding for the competition, with the winners of the 2021–2024 Champions League each receiving a place and the other 8 teams being chosen based on their UEFA Club Coefficient.