What is that based upon? How many teams contest the title? The quality of football? Finances? Or simply how well the teams do in european competition?
The league coefficient is used to rank the leagues of Europe, and thus determine the number of clubs from a league that will participate in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
The UEFA ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next, not in the first season after the publication of the ranking. Thus, the rankings at the end of the 2011ÔÇô12 season determine the team allocation by country in the 2013ÔÇô14 (not 2012ÔÇô13) European season, however, the actual teams that will be participating are determined at the end of the 2012ÔÇô13 season when the individual league classifications and national cups are finalized.
This coefficient is determined by the results of the clubs of the leagues in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games over the past five seasons. Two points are awarded for each win by a club, and one for a draw (points are halved in the qualifying and playoff rounds). Goals scored in extra time do count in determining the outcome of a game, but any Penalty shootout result does not affect the allocation of points other than the bonus points. The number of points awarded each season is divided by the number of teams that participated for that nation in that season. This number is then rounded to three decimal places (e.g. 2⅔ would be rounded to 2.667).
For the league coefficient the season's league coefficients for the last five seasons must be added up. In the preliminary rounds of both the Champions League and Europa League, the awarded points are halved. Bonus points are allocated for:
- Qualifying for the Champions League group phase (4 bonus points).
- Reaching the second round of the Champions League (5 bonus points).
- Reaching the quarter, semi and final of either the Champions League or the Europa League (1 bonus point).
you need to have several teams doing well in European competitions to get a high ranking (not just one or two) it's not a perfect system but is the most accurate way of comparing leagues across Europe that i can see