Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 11:12 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:22

After the smoke has cleared in the Europa League and Conference League, the Netherlands remains in pole position for the much desired second group stage ticket in the Champions League. The unprecedentedly important coefficient battle between Ajax and Benfica (0-1) was lost, so that a mega hit is not forthcoming, but with three victories and a draw on Thursday, the Eredivisie clubs are still scoring more points (1.4) than the Portuguese this week. competition (1.0). The Netherlands is now expanding its lead – which must be maintained until next May – to almost 1.6 points.

In the Johan Cruijff ArenA, Benfica collected two club points for the win in the match plus a bonus point for reaching the last eight in the Champions League: three club points divided by six Portuguese participants give the country 0.5 point. They were extremely expensive coefficient points that Ajax had to leave to the direct competitor, and the team from Amsterdam is of course no longer able to score points this season after the elimination.

All eyes were on the Conference League on Thursday, where the Netherlands still had four trumps in their hands. PSV, AZ and Feyenoord managed to win their match (in regular time) in any case (three times two club points), while Vitesse handed over a victory at the very last minute against AS Roma (1-1): the extra club point of the Arnhemmers gives the Netherlands (seven club points divided by five participants) a total of 1.4 points this week. Still a fantastic score, but the Netherlands lost two European participants with AZ and Vitesse: only PSV and Feyenoord remain.

Meanwhile, Portugal itself appeared on Thursday with two clubs at the kick-off: SC Braga gave away a win against AS Monaco (1-1), but it was more than enough to advance in the Europa League: 1 club point for the draw plus 1 bonus club point. for the next round. FC Porto came to visit Olympique Lyon no further than 1-1 (1 club point) and is now out. On Thursday, Portugal therefore yields 3 club points, which makes 0.5 country point. Including Benfica’s score, the South Europeans come to 1.0 point this round, and they also remain in the race with two European participants.

Explanation of the coefficient ranking
Since 2003, the Netherlands has only received one guaranteed group stage ticket for the Champions League (plus one preliminary round ticket), but due to exceptional performances in recent years, it is suddenly close to an extra ticket for the runner-up in the Eredivisie. It would be great news for Dutch football, which in that case describes an insured extra premium of 30 million euros (approximately the minimum starting premium for the Champions League). In addition, the Eredivisie will in that case receive an extra sixth European ticket (now there are five), and the Europa League ticket for the cup winner then gives direct access to the group stage (it is now a play-off ticket).

In order to achieve this, a place in the top 6 on the coefficient ranking must be achieved. Based on that ranking, for which the clubs in Europe earn points, UEFA annually distributes the European tickets for the new season. For a long time, Portugal seemed unthreatened to be assured of sixth position, but number seven, the Netherlands, is making a gigantic advance. The Netherlands is now aiming at the finish line at the end of the 2022/23 season, so the tickets for the 2024/25 season can only be obtained definitively in a year’s time. For the current season, the backlog is too great to be able to catch up with Portugal, but on the cleaned up ranking that applies from 1 July 2022, the Netherlands now has a lead of almost 1.6 on Portugal.