Benfica’s triumph, which qualified for the “quarters” of the Europa League, allowed Portugal to close the gap with the Netherlands (6th) in the UEFA rankings. Just like a week ago, the national ambassadors in European competitions could have capitalized differently on the eliminations of Ajax, in the Conference League, and PSV, in the Champions League.
On Thursday night, Ajax were beaten by Aston Villa (4-0), one day after PSV were defeated 2-0 against Dortmund.
Even so, Sporting was eliminated from the Europa League, by Atalanta, and FC Porto left the Champions League, at the hands of Arsenal.
In a new short approximation, and with each victory worth two points, divided between the six national clubs that participated in the UEFA competitions, Benfica’s triumph was worth 0.33 points for the ranking. At the same time, qualification added a bonus point, which translated into an addition of 0.17 to the national ranking.
Therefore, it is important to highlight – even regret – in the best scenario, national football could, at this time, score the sum of one and a half points in the ranking (nine points [6+3]divided by the six vacancies).
This season, the national ambassadors – Benfica, Sporting, FC Porto, Sp. Braga, Vitória de Guimarães and Arouca – accumulated 10,666 points, surpassing the records of 19/20 (10,300) and 20/21 (9,600). At the same time – and this is the real good news – the ambassadors of the Netherlands reached 10,000 points, the worst record of the last three seasons (19,200 and 13,500 points).
Therefore, national football now entrusts Benfica with a campaign that allows continued rapprochement with the Dutch, now devoid of representatives in European competitions.
In any case, remember, the ranking of countries is based on records from the last five seasons. In 24/25, the 19/20 season leaves the equation, which will harm Portugal, which scored 10,300 points, compared to 9,400 for the Netherlands.
UEFA RANKING ACCOUNTS (6th/7th PLACES):
6th: Netherlands, 61,300 (10,000 on 23/24)
7th: Portugal, 55,982 (10,666 on 23/24)
In the last five seasons, the best national records were achieved in 21/22 (12,916) and 22/23 (12,500). However, in those years, the Netherlands scored 19,200 and 13,500 points.
This Friday morning there is a draw for the Europa League, in which Benfica will know who they will cross destinations with: AC Milan, Liverpool, West Ham, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille or Rome. In other words, with clubs from countries that surpass Portugal in the UEFA rankings.
England leads this ranking, with 103,178 points, followed by Spain (87,864), Italy (86,998), Germany (83,624) and France (65,331).
English football has the largest number of representatives in the quarter-finals of European competitions (5). Italy (4), Spain, Germany and France (3) follow. Closing the list are Greece (2), Portugal, Turkey, Belgium and the Czech Republic (1).
In any case, it should be noted that the bonus point for qualification, in the case of the Conference League, will only count for those who reach the semi-finals.
