By Melody Gross 
Italy will have five teams in the 2024/25 edition of the Champions League, and this could help Benfica. Transalpine has already secured one of the top two places in this season's UEFA classification, a fact that allows it to secure an additional place in the next million-dollar league, after the competition was expanded to 36 teams.
In the new format of the Champions League, which has been expanded to include 36 teams, UEFA gives an additional place to the two tournaments with the best positions in the world rankings. Currently, Italy faces Roma and Atalanta in the semi-finals of the Europa League, two teams that also defeated AC Milan and Liverpool, respectively.
There is another Italian football team in the semi-finals of another UEFA competition: Fiorentina beat Plzeň and will fight for a place in the conference league final with Belgium's Club Brugge.
By today's calculations, it is certain that the English Premier League will not be able to surpass the Italian League, as there is only one team in UEFA: Aston Villa, in the semi-finals of the Conference League.
At the moment, this is the coefficient for the major European leagues: 19,285 points. German League: 17,642 points; Premier League: 17,375 points.
One of the beneficiaries of this combination of results could be Benfica, who would then be able to enter directly into the group stage of the Champions League, as long as they finish in second place (they have 11 points more than Porto and seven points less than Porto). Sporting is the leader with five points remaining to finish the first league).
If the Europa League winner has already secured a place in the Champions League via the tournament, that place will be allocated to the qualifying team with the best UEFA ranking in the last five years. Now Benfica.
At this moment it is important to see the calculations in Italy, a country that, as mentioned, will have five teams in the expanded Champions League. Fifth place at the moment belongs to Roma, which has reached the semi-finals of the Europa League (playing with Bayer Leverkusen, who has already qualified for the Champions League via the tournament), and sixth is Atalanta (six points behind the leaders). The Romans), who also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League (against Marseille).
Therefore, Benfica will have to pray that the Europa League winner is neither Marseille (they are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League via the tournament – they are 13 points off the Champions League qualifying places) or Atalanta. If Roma or Bayer Leverkusen win the competition, the Europa League place will go to the Reds.
There is still a possibility that Italy could have six teams in the next edition of the Champions League, but for that to happen, either Atalanta or Roma must win the Europa League, and whoever wins must be sixth or lower in the Italian league.
*Updated article