ENGLAND
England is the only country to still have all teams active – there are nine of them into the last 16 across the three competitions.
It will be very hard for England to throw it away from this position, even with Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest losing in the first leg of their last 16 ties.
Aston Villa were the only team to win across the whole week.
But the real damage can only be done next week if teams are eliminated, and England (22.847) is not far off the score of the second-placed country from last season (Spain, 23.892).
Nothing should be completely taken for granted, as England seemed destined to get an EPS slot in 2023-24 only to suffer a terrible set of results in the quarter-finals.
As a picture of how far England is ahead, German clubs are effectively 17 wins behind, for Spanish sides it is 18 wins. Then for the Italian teams it is also 18 victories.
SPAIN
Spain moved up into second place on Wednesday. But it will be a close battle as each win is worth less to the coefficient than those of Germany.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona could meet in the Champions League quarter-finals, plus Celta Vigo and Real Betis in the Europa League semis. This could affect their chances.
With three England v Spain fixtures in the Champions League last 16, La Liga is going to have to do it the hard way.
But wins for Atletico (v Tottenham) and Real Madrid (v Man City), and a draw for Barcelona (at Newcastle) mean they are very much in contention.
GERMANY
The Bundesliga is in a decent place to take an EPS slot alongside England with five of its seven teams active.
Germany’s chances have been aided by its four teams in the Champions League and Europa League being placed in opposite sides of the brackets. It means they cannot meet until the final.
Bayern look sure to progress in the Champions League after winning 6-1 at Atalanta.
But with no victories for German clubs from the Europa League and Conference League first-leg ties, Spain is now slight favourite for second.
ITALY
Serie A has lost three of its seven teams and now only has a slim chance of making the top two.
With Atalanta losing heavily at home to Bayern in the Champions League, it is looking like a three-horse race for the two spots.
Bologna and Roma face each other in the Europa League last 16, so another team will go out. At least Fiorentina won in the Conference League.
PORTUGAL
Portugal’s chances of making the top two were effectively over when Santa Clara were knocked out of the Conference League in the qualifying rounds.
It still has three teams active but only one won in the last 16 first leg ties.
FRANCE
It has been a disappointing season for Ligue 1 teams, starting with Nice’s failure to make it through Champions League qualifying.
It did not get much better from there for Nice, as they were then eliminated from the Europa League.
France does have four teams still active, two winning last-16 ties, but seems unlikely to bridge the gap.
POLAND
It will come as a surprise to many to find Poland so high up in the table, and that it was in the top two for a while. But Poland does not have a realistic chance.
All four of the country’s teams have been playing in the Conference League, while over a third of its points were picked up in the qualifying rounds.
Its final two teams are in the same half of the bracket and both lost in the last-16 first leg.
GREECE
Greece has only two teams left in Europe so will not be able to mount a challenge.
No other country has a mathematical chance of the top two.
