http://www.soccermetricsblog.com/2011/04/uefa-champions-league-and-proportional-allocation.html gives proposed allocations for the 24 "at-large" bids to the Champions League (24 clubs that are not champions get invited). Under the current format, the top three countries get 3 at-large bids, the next three countries get 2 at-large bids, and the next nine countries get 1 at-large bid. Both of author Howard Hamilton's proposals favor the above average countries over the elite ones. He has the top three countries getting 2 at-large bids and the next eighteen countries getting 1 at-large bid. If that system were currently used then Tottenham who is now the Quarterfinals would not have been in the 2010-2011 Champions League. Instead, countries like Israel, Austria, Cyprus, and Bulgaria would get at-large bids. Those leagues aren't bad, but here are the current club coefficient ranks for the second best clubs in those countries: Maccabi Haifa (Israel): 93rd Austria Wien (Austria): 112th (below the minimum coefficient for any club from England) APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus): 125th (below the minimum coefficient for any club from England, Spain, or Germany) CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria): 146th (below the minimum coefficient for any clubs from England, Spain, Germany Italy, or France) Howard Hamilton is smart, but his proposal here would make the distribution too equal in my opinion. He also doesn't mention giving an automatic spot to the defending champion and how he would organize the qualifying rounds if his proposal was used.