UEFA Club Ranking 2023: Manchester City Lead, Manchester United 9th, Arsenal Miss Out

• Manchester City will close the year as the best-ranked club by UEFA's coefficients
• The Premier League has four representatives in the top 10, including Chelsea
• We take a look at how the coefficients work and why Arsenal have missed out

The governing body of football in Europe, UEFA, has published its final list of the club's ranking for the year 2023. Manchester City remain on top heading into 2024 after a dominant year that saw them amass five trophies.

Pep Guardiola's side won its third consecutive Premier League title before beating Manchester United in the FA Cup final. They then beat Inter Milan to win their first Champions League title, followed by further wins in the Super Cup and Club World Cup.

Bayern Munich have also maintained the position, coming in second with 136 points, five less than Manchester City. The Bavarian giants won another Bundesliga title in dramatic fashion but lost to City in the Champions League quarterfinals.

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Real Madrid has risen three places in the latest ranking to third place, while French giants Paris Saint-Germain have moved up one position to fourth place. Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have ceded two places but remain in the top five.

How the UEFA club coefficients are calculated

The coefficient is the total a club has accumulated in the last five seasons in UEFA main competitions, i.e., Champions League, Europa League and the Conference League, as explained on their website.

"The coefficient of a club is calculated by adding the total number of points it obtains in a given season in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League. A club's five-season coefficient is the cumulative total of the previous five seasons' coefficients."

Points are given out depending on the strength of the competition one is playing in. For instance, teams that have qualified for the Champions League get four bonus points and a further four should they qualify for the round of 16.

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Why Arsenal are not in the top 10

This explains why Arsenal, despite seemingly returning to their best this year, are not included in the top 10. The Gunners have only made a comeback to the Champions League this season after a six-year absence and thus, points accumulated from the Europa League aren't enough for a higher ranking.

Manchester United and Chelsea, meanwhile, are in the top ten, with the latter's triumph in 2021 still doing it some favours. Only six of the top 10 teams have qualified for this season's Champions League round of 16.

UEFA Club Ranking 2023 (five-year coefficient)

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The stats are from UEFA's website.

Champions League round of 16 draw

Sports Brief has also reported that the standout fixture of the Champions League round of 16 is set to be when Napoli face La Liga counterparts, Barcelona.

Both sides are currently struggling for consistent form in their domestic leagues despite being defending champions in Italy and Spain, respectively.

Last season's finalists, Inter Milan will have a tricky tie against Atletico Madrid but are favourites to win the Scudetto this term after a pretty strong start.