Will Belgium remain on course for an extra Champions League ticket next season? This is how our coefficient stands after four draws

A missed opportunity, but at the same time no man overboard (yet). Despite the four draws and one defeat for the Belgian teams in Europe, our country continues to occupy second place in the coefficient ranking of the current season. If we are still there at the end of the season, we can send a second team to the renewed Champions League next season.

Antwerp lost on Tuesday evening to Barcelona (5-0). Club Brugge (1-1 against Besiktas), AA Gent (1-1 against Zorya Luhansk), Union (1-1 against Toulouse) and Genk (2-2 against Fiorentina) all played a draw. Each draw yielded 0,200 points for our coefficient, which means that our country has gained 0,800 points and now goes from 4,000 points to 4,800 points.

© Isosport

As a result, we remain second this season behind leader Turkey. There are only four teams active in Europe, which means that the collected points have to be shared by fewer participants. The draw of Besiktas (1-1 against Club Brugge) and Galatasaray (2-2 against FC Copenhagen) and the victory of Fenerbahçe (3-1 against Nordsjaelland) therefore give the country one full extra coefficient point. This already brings them to 7,250 points.

The lead over the Netherlands has increased

We ended up at number three in the Netherlands. That saw Feyenoord win 2-0 against Celtic and Ajax draw 2-2 against Marseille, good for 0.400 and 0.200 coefficient points respectively, but also lost twice. PSV lost 4-0 on Arsenal’s pitch without a chance. Group seed AZ embarrassed itself in the Conference League by giving up a 0-3 lead on the field of the Bosnian HŠK Zrinjski Mostar for a 4-3 defeat.

Zrinjski’s players celebrate against AZ. — © EPA-EFE

If our country is still in the top two at the end of the season, we will receive an extra ticket for the reformed edition of the Champions League from the European football association UEFA. At the moment, only the team that will become Belgian champions this season is already assured of a place. However, most major countries and their clubs barely played in the European preliminary rounds, meaning they will have to catch up in the coming match days.

Top 5 coefficient ranking 2023/2024

1. Turkey 7,250 (+1,000)2. Belgium 4,800 (+0.800)3. Netherlands 4,400 (+0,600)4. Poland 4,375 (+0,500)5. Denmark 4,250 (+0,250)

We are catching up with Portugal in the five-year ranking

Apart from that extra Champions League ticket, the European tickets are distributed based on UEFA’s five-year ranking. Our country is still firmly eighth there, although number nine Turkey is nibbling away at its deficit. We are further ahead of number ten Scotland, which saw two of its three teams lose in Europe with Celtic (2-0 at Feyenoord) and Aberdeen (2-1 at Frankfurt). Only Rangers (1-0 against Betis) could maintain European honors, meaning they only collected 0,400 points.

Top 10 coefficient ranking 2019-2024

1. England 90,303 (+1,125)2. Spain 76,864 (+1,000)3. Italy 73,141 (+1,428)4. Germany 71,195 (+1,428)5. Netherlands 55,700 (+0,600)6. France 53,831 (+1,500)7. Portugal 48.982 (+0.666)8. Belgium 39,200 (+0,800)9. Turkey 33,850 (+1,000)10. Scotland 32,050 (+0,400)

Portugal, the first country above us in the ranking, started the season with three teams in the Champions League. This means that they will also face tougher opponents. Moreover, the Portuguese started the season with six European participants, so a win or draw means less for them than for us (0.333 and 0.167 points). Sporting (1-2 at Sturm Graz) and Porto (1-3 at Shakhtar Donetsk) gave Portugal 0.666 points, but Braga (1-2 against Napoli) and Benfica (0-2 against RB Salzburg) both lost.

The Portuguese have also lost two teams in Europe, while we are still active with five teams. This means that we can use this season to catch up with number seven.

How does the European coefficient work again?

The European football association UEFA awards each team in a European group stage two points for a win and one point for a draw. These points are then added up per country and divided by the number of teams with which they started the season in Europe. Belgium received five European tickets, meaning that wins for our country are worth 0,400 points and draws are worth 0,200 points. UEFA maintains a five-year ranking to determine which country gets how many and which European tickets. Since this year, the ranking of the current season also has importance because the top two receive an extra ticket for the Champions League.

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