The fall of the Italian empire is complete

by Amit Katwala, writing from London

Bayer Leverkusen’s 6-0 destruction of Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv in the Europa League last night may not have garnered much media attention from those who follow the ‘bigger leagues’ in Europe, those of England, Spain, Italy.

But it should have.

The resulting boost to Germany’s UEFA co-effiicient means that the country has definitely cemented its third place in the standings. You can see the latest table here. The numbers take into account performances in European competitions over the last few years and apply various weightings and mathematical manipulations to them. The important thing to take away from the data is this: From next season Germany will get a 4th Champion’s League place at the expense of Serie A, which will only get 3 teams.

So how did this happen?

(Source: philosofooty)