four questions on the UEFA index, the subject of a tight battle between France and the Netherlands

This season, Ligue 1 clubs are hoping to maintain their fifth place in the UEFA index to secure an extra place in the European Cup. But the Netherlands are very close and are in the fight to get ahead of the French championship.

A reprieve for the French championship? With the draw snatched by Paris Saint-Germain against Newcastle 1-1, the capital club has its destiny in hand to qualify for the round of 16 of the Champions League. Good news for the UEFA index, according to the first calculations, this draw allows us to be ahead by 0.164 point on the Dutch clubs also due to the defeat of Feyenoord Rotterdam against Atlético de Madrid (1-3).

Already threatened at the end of last season, the French championship is in a fight this season with that of the Netherlands to obtain fifth place in the European championships. Often mentioned but not necessarily explained, franceinfo deciphers this UEFA index scrutinized each season by the French football sphere by answering four questions.

1 What UEFA index are we talking about?

First of all, there are several UEFA indices. In particular, there is the club coefficient which awards each team a number of points based on European Cup results. It makes it possible to determine the place of each club in the draws for European competitions.

But when we talk about the UEFA index, we mainly talk about the club coefficient of associations or countries. This European championship ranking is used to allocate each country a number of places for European competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League) as well as the rounds in which clubs must enter the competition.

Since the 2016-2017 season, the French Ligue 1 championship has managed to rise to fifth place, allowing it to have six European places. In detail, the first two in the championship are qualified for the group stage of the Champions League, the third for the third preliminary round of the competition. The fourth qualifies for the group stage of the Europa League with the winner of the Coupe de France, while the fifth qualifies for the play-offs of the Europa League conference.

Last season, Paris Saint-Germain and RC Lens therefore qualified directly for the Champions League, Olympique de Marseille for the third preliminary round of the Champions League, Stade Rennais is in the group stage of the League Europa with Toulouse the winner of the French Cup and Lille qualified for the Europa League conference.

2 Why is this year particularly important?

In determining the number of European places, this championship ranking is therefore of paramount importance. And the rules are changing this season, particularly for fifth place, the one between France and the Netherlands.

From the 2024-2025 season, fifth place in the UEFA index allows you to have an additional place directly in the new Champions League formula. The first three in the championship will be directly qualified for the new format of the Champions League, the fourth will qualify for the third preliminary round of the competition. Sixth place only allows two clubs to be sent directly to the Champions League, and another to the preliminary round.

In addition, if France loses its fifth place in the UEFA index, only the winner of the Coupe de France would qualify for the group stages of the Europa League. The fourth and fifth in Ligue 1 should go through several preliminary rounds to reach the group stages of the Europa League and the Europa Conference League.

3 How is this UEFA index calculated?

This ranking is calculated on European performances over the last five years. The final coefficient is the sum of the coefficients of each season. The coefficient for a season corresponds to the average of the points obtained by the clubs in the same championship (rounded down to the nearest thousandth).

According to the UEFA website, points will be awarded as follows:
– In qualifying and play-offs, victories pay off 1 point and draws 0.5 points.
– In the group stage, victories pay off 2 points and draws 1 point.
– Participating in the group stage of the Champions League or Europa League pays off 4 points.
– Participating in the knockout stages of the Champions League pays off 4 points.
– Bonus points are also awarded according to the group stage ranking in the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. In the Europa League, first place pays off 4 points2nd place brings 2 points. In the Europa Conference League, we obtain 2 points for finishing first and 1 point for finishing second.
– Beyond the round of 16 in the Champions League and the Europa League, each round passed pays off 1 pointbeyond the semi-finals for the Europa League conference.

4 Is the French championship too dependent on PSG?

By participating each year in the Champions League, the capital club is the one which increases this coefficient the most. Because the main competition can bring in a lot of points. Paris Saint-Germain, which has qualified at least for the round of 16 the last five seasons, notably obtained 89 points (15 points in 2018-2019, 22 points in 2019-2020, 18 points in 2020-2021, 16 points in 2021-2022 and 18 points in 2022-2023). Which represents on average 17.8 points.

But it’s not just a good run in the premier competition that counts. Last season, French football was under threat from AZ Alkmaar’s run in the Europa Conference League. Arriving in the semi-final, the Dutch club had accumulated almost 17 points. An important reminder for French clubs, not everything rests on the shoulders of PSG but just as much on Losc, the French club qualified in C4.