Spain, Italy and England will continue to be granted four representatives in next season’s Champions League, UEFA have confirmed today.

Spain continued to lead the rankings list ahead of Italy and England which entitles the three countries to enter their domestic champions, runners-up, and third and fourth-placed teams in the Champions League, with the third and fourth-placed teams taking part in the third qualifying round.

Greece, who have moved up two places to sixth place in the UEFA rankings, are now entitled to three entrants in the Champions League, the same number as Germany and France, while Holland will only have two participants in the 2003/04 Champions League.ÿ

The champions of the Portuga have gained an automatic spot for the Superliga champions, at the expense of Russia. However, the Russian champions will qualify for the group stage if the winners of the 2003 Champions League have already qualified for next season’s group phase – for example, if Real Madrid were to win this year’s competition and qualify for next year’s competition through their league position.

The UEFA rankings are based on performances over the last five seasons, and the coefficients determine the number of places permmitted to each coountry.