UEFA index: the thunderous return of France!

It started particularly badly with the defeats of PSG in Milan (2-1) and that of Lens in Eindhoven against PSV (1-0). But it was a poor understanding of the reaction force of French clubs this season who are particularly shining in the Europa League, in a competition where they usually thwart. Rennes who won against Panathinaikos (3-1), TFC who made a resounding feat against Liverpool (3-2) and OM who brought back a precious victory for Greece against AEK (2 -0) allowed France to catch up with the Netherlands, even if LOSC was only able to bring home a draw from their trip to Bratislava against Slovan (1-1) in the Conference League.

It must be said that at the same time, the Dutch are more than in the tough. Aside from PSV still in the running for the 1/8 finals of the C1, the other clubs are looking gloomy. Feyenoord lost to Lazio, but can still hope for qualification. But nothing is going well for Ajax and AZ who bit the dust again this Thursday respectively against Brighton (0-2) and against Aston Villa (1-2). As a result, the Netherlands now only have a 0.003 point lead over France, whereas this gap was 2.769 points at the start of the season.

Hypothetically, regaining fifth place in the UEFA index over five years in 2025-26 has never been so close, especially as France is still well placed and still in the running for all of its clubs present. on the continental scene for qualification for the final phase next February. As a reminder, fifth place in the index, already acquired for France in 2024-25, allows the country in question to benefit from 4 qualifiers for the Champions League (3 direct plus one in the preliminary round) and three qualifiers for the two other European Cups…