The Champions League round-of-16 kicked off this week and no English team managed to win their first leg, despite the Premier League's dominance earlier in the competition
Virgil Van Dijk of Liverpool FC expresses disappointment during the match. Galatasaray SK and Liverpool FC faced each other at UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Round of 16 - 1st leg. The match took place in Ali Sami Yen Rams Park Stadium on March 10th, 2026. (Photo by Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
No English club won their Champions League fixture(Image: Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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Six games, zero wins. That was the sorry tale for English clubs in the Champions League this week.
Newcastle and Arsenal each earned 1-1 draws with Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, but that was as good as it got. Liverpool suffered a 1-0 defeat against Galatasaray before Tottenham were thrashed 5-2 by Atletico Madrid.
On Wednesday, Chelsea lost to Paris Saint-Germain by the same scoreline while Manchester City were stunned 3-0 by Real Madrid. The dire set of results has left supporters of clubs in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League - such as Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool - wondering if fifth place will be enough.
Under UEFA rules, the two nations which perform best across the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League are handed an extra place in their domestic leagues for Europe's premier competition. Newcastle were the beneficiaries last season, with Chelsea currently on course to finish fifth this campaign.
The good news is that England still has a comfortable lead at the top of the coefficient table as of March 11. England is the only nation to have all of its teams (nine) reach the last 16 of each of the three competitions.
Their score of 22.513 is well clear of Spain's 18.031 and Germany's 18.000. However, bad results next week when teams are eliminated could see England's ranking plummet.
This happened in the 2023-24 season, with England having looked set to claim an extra place before a quarter-final stage collapse. It would, however, take a huge effort from Spanish, German or Italian clubs to kick England out of the top two.
Bayern Munich's French midfielder #17 Michael Olise celebrates scoring his team's second goal with teammates during the UEFA Champions League last 16, first leg football match between Atalanta and Bayern Munich at the Gewiss stadium in Bergamo, on March 10, 2026. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Germany are pushing Spain close for second place(Image: Marco BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
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The knockout draws for all three competitions aided Germany the most. Its four teams in the Champions League and Europa League were all placed opposite brackets and wouldn't meet until the finals.
That's unlike Spain, who could see Barcelona take on Atletico in the Champions League quarter-finals. And in the semis of the Europa League, Celta Vigo could fac Real Betis.
UEFA coefficient table (March 11)
England - 22.513
Spain - 18.031
Germany - 18.000
Italy - 17.357
Portugal - 16.600
France - 15.250
Poland - 15.250
Greece - 12.900
Cyprus - 11.906
Denmark - 11.750