Bayern Munich have leapfrogged Real Madrid to become UEFA’s top-ranked club ahead of the 2026-27 season.UEFA, the governing body of European football, has calculated the annual club standings — which influence seedings in draws for its club competitions — for the next campaign.Rankings are determined using a point-based system over a rolling five-year period, with points based on the club’s performances in continental competitions and measured using a weighted algorithm.The rankings for 2026-27 are based on accumulated coefficient in European competition from 2021-22 onwards.A club’s five-season coefficient is determined by either the cumulative sum of its points in the five-year period or by 20 per cent of its association’s coefficient over the same period, whichever tally is higher.Harry Kane scored 61 goals for Bayern this season, including 14 in Europe (Christian Kaspar-Bartke / Getty Images)Why are Bayern top?Madrid have lost top spot despite winning two Champions League trophies, in 2021-22 and 2023-24, during this timeframe — while Bayern have not reached the final of Europe’s premier club competition in the same period.
The German club have, however, reached the quarter-final or better in each of those five seasons with one of its two semi-final appearances coming this year.Bayern defeated Madrid in each leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie this year, which the German side won 6-4 on aggregate.Madrid have been eliminated at the quarter-final stage for successive seasons, and have required the knockout play-off phase on each occasion having missed out on top-eight slots in the league phase of the Champions League.Bayern finished second in the 2025-26 table, seven places and six points ahead of Madrid.Who were the other big movers?Paris Saint-Germain are up two places to third after securing their second successive Champions League victory, with a final victory over Arsenal — Mikel Arteta’s side, who recorded the highest cumulative coefficient points for 2025-26, are up five places to seventh.PSG not being top, having also reached the semi-final stage in 2023-24, is partly explained by having also missed out the top-eight of the Champions League initial phase table in each of its two campaigns since the competition’s reformat.Liverpool remain fourth in the overall standings, having been eliminated by PSG for a second successive year, with Manchester City down four places to sixth after successive last-16 defeats.Inter (fifth), Barcelona (eighth), Bayer Leverkusen (ninth) and Atletico Madrid (10th) complete the top 10, with Aston Villa the biggest movers — up 29 places to 17th.Chelsea have dropped five places to 12th after their last-16 Champions League loss to PSG, while Manchester United have slipped from 11th to 21st after a season without any continental involvement.
