Here’s what it means after the end of the first stage of the Champions League and the Europa League this week.
ENGLAND
England is the only country to still have all teams active – and there are nine of them.
It will be very hard for England to throw it away after bagging 72.50 bonus points from the Champions League final placings.
But 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.
England can consolidate its position with results in the knockout play-off rounds. It has three teams active, while only Italy (five) of the major European leagues has more.
As a picture of how far England is ahead, Portuguese clubs are effectively 11 wins behind, for German sides it is 17 wins. Then for the Italian teams it is 19 victories and for the Spanish clubs 22.
PORTUGAL
Portugal did not seem to really stand a realistic chance of making the top two as soon as Santa Clara were knocked out out of the Conference League in the qualifying rounds.
Still, they carry on with four teams active but will need all to go very deep to have any chance.
Only Benfica can add coefficient points in February and they have been drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Even if Benfica pull off another surprise and knock out the La Liga giants, Portugal is likely to drop down the table. Other leagues have more teams in action.
GERMANY
Only Eintracht Frankfurt have been eliminated, so the Bundesliga is well placed to take an EPS slot alongside England.
Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart could pick up more coefficient points in the play-off rounds.
Germany’s chances are hampered by the bracket. If Leverkusen and Dortmund get through one of them must meet Bayern Munich in the last 16.
SPAIN
With eight teams in Europe, Spain needed to have a strong campaign.
Chances were severely damaged by Villarreal’s Champions League elimination. And Athletic Club followed them out of the competition on Wednesday, too.
While Spain have six teams still active, each win is worth less to the coefficient than those of their rivals for second place.
La Liga does have three teams in action in February: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Celta Vigo.
ITALY
Serie A had a slow start but remains in contention despite losing Napoli from the Champions League.
With Italy having five teams in action in February there is the potential to significantly boost its score.
Atalanta, Bologna, Fiorentina, Inter Milan and Juventus could all add to the tally in the knockout play-offs.
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 will not be here for long.
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.
At least the remaining trio are potentially at opposite ends of the Conference League bracket.
FRANCE
It has been a disappointing season for Ligue 1 teams, starting with Nice’s failure to make it through Champions League qualifying.
It has not got much better from there for Nice, as they have now been eliminated from the Europa League.
Lille, Monaco and Paris St-Germain will feature in play-offs.
France’s chances have been further reduced by Monaco and PSG drawing each other.
GREECE
Greece still has four teams active but is a long way behind the top two slots.
However, all of its teams will play in February to boost the score.
CYPRUS
Another surprise name on the list, boosted by Pafos reaching the Champions League for the first time.
But with only two teams still active, and both in the Conference League, Cyprus is not a contender.
DENMARK
Only FC Midtjylland remain, so Denmark can be discounted too.
