UEFA has changed how it will seed teams for next season’s Champions League and that is bad news for Arsenal. Currently, top-seeded teams are the eight highest-ranked in a five-year results cycle in UEFA competitions.
Under the new rules, the top seeds will go to national league winners plus this years Champions League winner.
Based on current standings Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Porto would drop from being a top seed, into pot two.
Real Madrid would also drop down if Barcelona wins the Champions League and Spanish league, because if the Champions League winner also wins its national title, then the eighth top-seeded team is the Dutch champions.That is PSV Eindhoven, which is only 30th in UEFA’s club standings. Considering that three of the four semi-finalists are leading their respective leagues, the odds that PSV will be a top seed are pretty good.
The new system should elevate Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg and PSG.
If things stayed as they are in Europe, the top seeds next season would be:
- Barcelona
- Bayern Munich
- Chelsea
- Juventus
- PSG
- Zenit
- Benfica
- Champions League Winner
A list of the current club coefficients is available here, but the ways it looks from a Premier League perspective, Chelsea will be a top seed, Arsenal and Manchester United would be seeded in the second group and Manchester City could well be seeded in the third group. If Liverpool catch City for fourth place, they would be a fourth seed.
