WE AREN'T THE CHAMPIONS

While Spain are top of the UEFA country coefficients list, which decides how
many teams each national association can have in the Champions League and
UEFA Cup, England are in second place ahead of Italy.

English clubs have a comfortable lead over Germany who are fourth - the
top three countries each have four sides in the Champions League.

Clubs are awarded two points for a win and one for a draw with extra points
for each stage they reach. The total for each association is divided by the
number of clubs they have in the two competitions.

With this in mind, the forthcoming ties involving English teams against
Italian and German opposition are particularly important to improve
England's rating at the expense of the others. Manchester United are likely to overtake Bayern Munich, who have no furtherEuropean interest this season, in the clubs' rankings.

Though this is largely academic, as the leading eight teams are top seeds
when the Champions League first group stage draw is made for 2003-04, it
would be further proof of United's consistency over the past five years if
they could move up to third behind Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid and
Barcelona.