Here’s what it means after the end of the first stage of the Champions League.

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.

While it might seem positive that five English clubs made it directly through to the Champions League round of 16, there is a twist.

The rival leagues all have teams in the knockout play-off rounds, and those clubs can score points by winning those two-leg ties.

As a picture of how far England is ahead, German clubs are effectively 17 wins behind, and for the Italian and Spanish it is 20 victories.

GERMANY

Only Eintracht Frankfurt have been eliminated, so the Bundesliga is well placed to take an EPS slot alongside England.

Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund could pick up more coefficient points in the play-offs.

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.

ITALY

Serie A had a slow start but remains in contention despite losing Napoli from the Champions League.

Atalanta, Inter Milan and Juventus could all add to the tally in the Champions League knockout play-offs.

PORTUGAL

Portugal did not 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.

Benfica can add some coefficient points in February.

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.

With Legia Warsaw eliminated and no bonus points on the way from the Europa League, Poland will drop further on Thursday.

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 are already eliminated from the Europa League. Lille could also yet drop out of the top 24.

Monaco and Paris St-Germain will play in Champions League play-offs but France has become a rank outsider for an extra place.

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.

GREECE

Greece still has four teams active but is a long way behind the top two slots.

DENMARK

Only FC Midtjylland remain, so Denmark can be discounted too.