UEFA index: very good news for France!

The years go by and are similar for French clubs. Last season, France had a perfect start to its European season (4 wins, 1 draw and a defeat for OM at Tottenham). This week, the six French teams managed to remain undefeated, but only won 3 times (for 3 draws). As in 2022/23, PSG won their first match against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Rennes outclassed Maccabi Haifa (3-0) while LOSC won in the Conference League against modest Olimpija Ljubljana (2-0).

Note all the same the three very good draw results garnered away by Lens on the pitch of Sevilla FC (1-1) in the Champions League, by Toulouse on the pitch of Union Saint-Gilloise (1-1 ) and by OM, who in an explosive context and with an interim coach, managed to snatch a point from a draw against Ajax Amsterdam at the end of a spectacular match rich in goals (3-3). Very good news for France which can boast of being the nation which scored the most points this week (1,500 points for France compared to 1,429 points for Italy and 0.6 points for the Netherlands).

The gap has been reduced by a third with the Netherlands for 5th place!

The latter, who have been ahead of France since the start of the season, saw their gap narrow this week thanks to the good French performances on the continental scene. There are therefore only 1.87 points left to make up compared to 2.77 points before this week. Because on the contrary, the Dutch clubs had complicated evenings. if Feyenoord won against Celtic Glasgow (2-0), PSV Eindhoven was pulverized against Arsenal (4-0), AZ took a beating in Mostar 4-3 after having led however 3-0 while Ajax failed to dominate OM.

This bodes well for France, which has therefore sent a clear message to its main competitor in the quest for 5th place in the ranking over 5 years, which in particular allows it to have three clubs automatically qualified for the Champions League (this place grants three directly qualifying places for the 2025-2026 Champions League, but also an additional place in the preliminary round of the C1).