Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 11:27 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:39

Until now, the European season has mainly been hosanna for the Dutch clubs, but the Eredivisionists had the wind against them in the last round. The Netherlands could have benefited enormously from new missteps by the Portuguese, but only sparingly. Tuesday 15 March can already be described as D-Day in terms of coefficients: then Ajax will play in the eighth final of the Champions League against direct competitor Benfica.

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 in the cleaned up ranking that applies from 1 July 2022, the Netherlands now has a 1.2 lead over Portugal.

The Netherlands only takes 0.6 points
With four of the five Dutch participants in action, the Netherlands had the chance to bring in a maximum of 1.6 points, but less than half of that was achieved. Only Feyenoord achieved the maximum score by beating Partizan (2 club points divided by 5 participants makes 0.4 point for the Netherlands) and AZ and PSV (4-4 against FC Copenhagen) added two more 0.2 points with a draw. . The heavily unjust penalty that the Alkmaarders received in Norway (2-1 for Bodö/Glimt) will therefore cost the Netherlands dearly in terms of coefficients, also because AZ now has a much less good starting position to make it to the next round.

Portugal also only achieves 0.5 point
Portugal entered the field with three of the four remaining European clubs and also had a fairly weak round. Sporting Portugal achieved a nice draw at Manchester City (1 club point divided by 6 clubs makes 0.167 country point), but is now eliminated in the Champions League. FC Porto gave away a victory against Olympique Lyon in the final minute, and only SC Braga took the full loot with a nice 2-0 win against Olympique Marseille (+0.333 point): a total of half a point.

The conclusion after a difficult round
Sporting dropped out in Europe as expected, leaving Portugal now with only two teams left. In addition, FC Porto lost at home to Lyon (0-1), with which the Portuguese leader is in bad shape. There is therefore a chance that only Braga will remain for the country, should Ajax succeed in winning against Benfica next Tuesday. The duel in the Johan Cruijff ArenA can play an absolute key role in the coefficient ranking. For the Netherlands, Feyenoord will most likely also remain active in Europe, while PSV also has a good view of that. Vitesse and AZ will have to make up for small defeats. The chance of finishing far ahead of Portugal this season has therefore become smaller.