Three of the five Dutch clubs died this week, but it did not cause panic in the coefficient rankings. Because all four Dutch participants took points tonight, the virtual lead over Portugal was expanded again.
Points obtained
With 0.600 points, Ajax should have ushered in another memorable coefficient week last Tuesday, but the score remained at zero. Ajax went down against Benfica and was therefore kicked out of the Champions League, as a result of which the team from Amsterdam also missed the bonus point. The Thursday participants did their job, although that did not ensure a place in the quarterfinals of the Conference League at the last minute for AZ and Vitesse.
AZ and Vitesse still managed to score 0.200 points with their draws. Thanks to PSV’s victories over FC Copenhagen and Feyenoord over Partizan Belgrade, both good for 0.400 points, the Netherlands is now the best performing country of this season again. The weekly yield of 1,200 points brought the season total to 17,400.
Feyenoord’s performances in particular are impressive this season. In recent years, the team from Rotterdam caused various dampers in terms of coefficients and Dutch football could hardly count on the top club for points, but this season the total yield is already at 20.5 points (must be divided by five due to the number of participants, ed.) . This makes Feyenoord one of the best performing teams in Europe.
Portugal points
And that means that Portugal again had a lesser week than Dutch football. Just like the Netherlands, the Southern Europeans still have two trumps in their hands: Benfica (Champions League) and Braga (Europa League). They eventually made it to 1,000 points this week. FC Porto contributed with a 1-1 draw, but that was not enough for a place in the next round.
Current state
The Netherlands thus once again made up 0.200 points against Portugal, which now definitively no longer has to worry about this season. The difference between Portugal and the Netherlands is so great that the latter could only have completed a catching up if all five participants had remained active for the time being. Ajax, Vitesse and AZ have therefore died this week, so that all hopes for the coming weeks will be based on PSV and Feyenoord.
Those clubs did not join the last eight of the Conference League, but UEFA has already decided before the season not to award that achievement with a bonus point. For this, the Rotterdammers and Eindhoven residents must reach the semi-finals and finals.
6. Portugal – 53.382
7. NETHERLANDS – 45,800
Virtual booth
If we delete the 2017/2018 year for the sake of convenience, things look significantly better for the Netherlands. The coefficient week, which was excellent in terms of results, ensured that the Netherlands once again has a firmer grip on sixth place. The difference between the competitors for place six is now 1,384 points. It should of course be said that the Netherlands must perform at least as well as Portugal next season to get their hands on the coveted sixth place. If that succeeds, the champion of the Eredivisie and the number two are assured of participation in the Champions League from 2023.
5. France 47,414
6. NETHERLANDS – 44,600
7. Portugal – 43.216
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