We’ve been talking about it for months, but now it’s really going to happen: the extra Champions League ticket is up for grabs from the Netherlands. After AZ’s stunt at SS Lazio, ‘us’ is almost nothing in the way anymore. There’s even more in the barrel. VoetbalPrimeur refreshes the most important things.
It is now known that the Netherlands has been fighting with Portugal on the coefficient list for some time. The sixth place is at stake and if the Netherlands manages to conquer it definitively, it will provide an extra ticket for the Champions League. In addition, the Eredivisie clubs can count on even more nice extras in that case.
So there are enough differences between sixth and seventh place. Due to the extra Champions League ticket, the Netherlands can send six teams into Europe if it wins the battle with Portugal. The Eredivisie now has five representatives. Important to know: if the Netherlands beats Portugal, the new ticket distribution will only apply at the end of the 2023/24 season. In short: if the Netherlands continues on this foot, the number two of the next season can go directly to the Champions League.
What is the state of affairs now?
It is therefore clear that the coefficient battle is crucial for Dutch football. Because AZ won on Tuesday when visiting Lazio, the Eredivisie can hardly lose the battle. The Netherlands now has a generous lead of 2,484 points over Portugal. Benfica qualified for the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday, but that is not enough for Portugal.
Only an exceptional Portuguese performance, such as a Champions League final between Benfica and FC Porto, can save the southern Europeans. Next Thursday, the sixth place can already be officially a fact for the Netherlands. If Porto, which lost its first meeting with Internazionale 1-0, and Sporting Portugal are eliminated in Europe that week, the Netherlands can no longer be traced.
Benfica and Porto, together with Sporting, have to get a lot of points for Portugal very quickly
Panic in France
If the Netherlands wins the battle with Portugal, it will finish sixth this season. Number five France can no longer be traced, but that is a completely different story in the next football year. Then the coefficient points of the 2018/19 season will disappear. France and Portugal scored considerably better than the Netherlands in that season, despite the fact that Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
In the cycle from 2019 to 2024, we are therefore a street length ahead of Portugal, while the gap with France is now only 0.648 points. If the Dutch clubs perform strongly in Europe again next year, there is a good chance that the Eredivisie will join the famous top five competitions. This has now also been recognized in France.
In France, too, they must now seriously fear the advance of the Netherlands
If the Dutch also pass France, among other things, a ticket for the preliminary round of the Conference League will change into a starting ticket for the Europa League. It may then happen that the number five in the Eredivisie goes directly to the second European tournament. Every point that Feyenoord and AZ now score in Europe already makes a major contribution to the upcoming battle with France.
Conclusion
A long story short: the Netherlands is experiencing a great heyday on the coefficient list. Only if a great miracle occurs will we no longer be sixth, while even the ultimate reward is looming: a place in the top five leagues in all of Europe, which will yield even more good UEFA tickets. The directors of the Eredivisie can therefore already start thinking about what the new ticket distribution should look like. Who would have thought five years ago…
The positions around the Netherlands on the current coefficient ranking
5. France 60,331 (11,750) (2/6)
6. THE NETHERLANDS 57,700 (11,300) (2/5)
7. Portugal 55,216 (11,500) (3/6)
The positions around the Netherlands on the coefficient ranking from next season
5. France 49,748
6. THE NETHERLANDS 49.100
7. Portugal 44,316
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