The situation could have been excellent. It remains rather good. At the start of the 2024-2025 season, France is in a good position to retain its fifth place in the UEFA ranking, precious because it offers four places in the Champions League.
For Ligue 1, Lille’s qualification for the group stage of the Champions League is the best news. The new formula is demanding, with eight matches on the schedule, but also more rewarding in terms of points, with a bonus of six UEFA points for each participant. With four teams involved, PSG, Monaco, Brest and therefore Losc, the French championship is better equipped on paper than its main competitor, that of the Netherlands (6th), which will only be able to count on PSV and Feyenoord.
Without Lens, a falling average
The downside is of course the elimination of RC Lens in the Conference League. The Blood and Gold’s failure will weigh down the average points of French clubs (this is how the UEFA index is calculated, by dividing the total points obtained by the number of players involved at the very start of the season), but the Netherlands are in the same situation, since they lost one of their six representatives, in this case the Go Ahead Eagles in the Conference League.
