If France has managed to consolidate its 5th place in the UEFA index, the French clubs are on the other hand adrift in the ranking produced by the body.
Even though Racing Club de Lens, Toulouse Football Club and Stade Rennais were knocked out of the Europa League this week, France’s UEFA index was not too impacted, notably because the Netherlands saw Feyenoord get knocked out by AS Roma. Enough to allow France to consolidate a little more precious fifth place, synonymous with three direct qualifying places for the Champions League, plus a place for the preliminary round of the competition. On the other hand, the ranking of French clubs is disastrous.
Also produced by UEFA, this famous ranking of the best European clubs is clearly not a showcase for French football. Only Paris Saint-Germain managed to do well since they currently occupy fourth place, behind Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. The Parisian club then comes ahead of Liverpool, Inter Milan and RB Leipzig. After that ? It is the most complete desert for the other French teams.
Paris… and then the abyss
No other in the Top 10. No more in the Top 20. Still not in the Top 30. And it is finally beyond the fortieth place that the second French club arrives, since Olympique Lyonnais holds the 44th place, just ahead of Stade Rennais (45th), Lille (46th) and Olympique de Marseille (47th). A hell of a group shot. But nothing to rejoice about as all these teams are far behind PSG. Then, you have to go down to 73rd to find another Ligue 1 team, in this case AS Monaco.
One last French team ranks at the last minute in the Top 100, with OGC Nice which is in 97th position. Depending on the performance of PSG, OM and Lille, still in the race respectively in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League, France can hope to see its teams grab a few places in the UEFA rankings. Not too much to restore the image of French clubs a little.
