Real Madrid Tops UEFA Club Rankings for 2025-26
In a surprising twist, Real Madrid has ascended to the top position in UEFA’s club rankings for the season 2025-26, overtaking Manchester City, despite having exited the Champions League in the quarter-finals. This ranking, which serves as a crucial indicator for club seeding in UEFA draws, is based on a point system calculated over a rolling five-year period, assessing teams’ performances in European competitions through a weighted algorithm.
Ranking Methodology
The assessment for this year’s rankings utilizes accumulating coefficients from the 2020-21 season onward. A club’s standing is derived from either the total points accrued across that span or 20 percent of its association’s overall coefficient for the same timeframe, taking the higher figure into account. This ranking period has been notably favorable for the Spanish giants, who celebrated Champions League victories in both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, whereas Manchester City’s triumph in this prestigious tournament came during the 2022-23 season.
Other Notable Rankings
Manchester City experienced a challenging 2024-25 Champions League campaign, ultimately falling to Real Madrid with a 6-3 aggregate score in the play-off round before the last 16. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain, the reigning Champions League winners, alongside runners-up Inter Milan, have moved up to fifth and sixth places in the rankings, respectively, indicating a significant improvement in their standings.
Bayern Munich and Liverpool hold onto third and fourth place in the UEFA rankings, while Chelsea’s successful run in the Conference League has propelled them to seventh place, moving up by three positions since last year. The remainder of the top ten includes Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma, and Barcelona, with Barcelona achieving a Champions League semi-final appearance for the first time in six years.
Manchester United and Other Teams
Manchester United, who were defeated by Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final, find themselves ranked 11th, an improvement of three spots from the previous season. Tottenham, however, languish in 27th place. Despite Arsenal’s commendable run to the Champions League semi-finals this season and their advancement to the last eight in 2023-24, they remain below Manchester United in the rankings.
Additional Standings
Other notable standings include Bayer Leverkusen at 13th (down two spots), Atletico Madrid at 14th (up three), and Benfica at 15th. Aston Villa, which reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League before being eliminated by PSG, is positioned at 46th, having had a three-season absence from European competitions. Beaten Conference League finalists Real Betis occupy the 40th spot, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt, who reached the Europa League semi-finals, stand at 43rd.
