Europe’s top five leagues are undoubtedly the best in the worrl but when it comes to choosing what league leads the pack, the Premier League gets the most votes.
And once again, Premier League teams have shown why the Premier League reigns supreme. Apart from the fact that the EPL is the most competitive league in the world and there is more media attention in the Premier League, English clubs have shown their worth time and time again in Europe’s most prestigious competition, the UEFA Champions League.
In this season’s Champions League, five out of the six Premier League teams finished in the top 8 with Newcastle narrowly missing out on the top eight after playing a 1-1 draw with defending Champions PSG.
The final Champions League group phase standings, as five Premier League teams go straight through to the Round of 16! pic.twitter.com/cMN2wZNwhS
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 28, 2026
Arsenal showed their dominance in the UCL as they won all of their group stage games, including getting famous victories against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Liverpool and Tottenham, who have suffered a dip in form domestically, took the UCL by storm. Liverpool finished in third place, one spot above Tottenham, who kept the most clean sheets in the UCL league phase (6).
Chelsea earned a sixth-placed finish after beating the Champions of Italy, Napoli, in a thrilling 3-2 victory last night. Chelsea also beat Barcelona in their UCL group games.
A HUGE WIN IN NAPLES!#CFC | #UCL pic.twitter.com/riN04N1K4V
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 28, 2026
Manchester City completed the top eight after beating Galatasaray last night. Guardiola’s men were sitting outside the top eight when the final round of matches started, but when it came down to business yesterday, they made sure not to put a foot wrong.
Top eight secured ✅
We progress straight into the #UCL round of 16 💪✨ pic.twitter.com/ZEv96ymIR8
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 28, 2026
These performances also justify why the Premier League gets the most slots every season, as they keep on racking up coefficient points. Although the grand prize, the UCL trophy, has eluded English teams in recent years, with Manchester City being the last English team to win it in the 2022-23 season, the Premier League has a good record of reaching the latter stages when compared to teams from the other leagues.
With five out of six Premier League teams currently in the UCL guaranteed a last-16 spot, it is expected that in the quarter-finals, there will be more EPL teams compared to the other leagues.