One more disappointment. The European season for French clubs ended on Thursday evening, with the cruel elimination of OGC Nice, still qualified in the 84th minute of their quarter-final second leg of the Europa League Conference. But FC Basel came back in the match and in overtime, and it was he who found the resources to reach the last four (1-2 ap).
After the early eliminations of PSG and all the other French clubs involved, Ligue 1 has put its 5th place in the UEFA index in jeopardy. With 61.164 points, she is under direct threat from the Netherlands, who have 59.900. Luckily for us, Roma ruled out Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Europa League on Thursday. Only AZ Alkmaar remains, winner of Anderlecht on penalties in C4.
Seven European French clubs by 2024?
If you don’t know which club to support for the upcoming European semi-finals, we strongly recommend West Ham. The English will be the adversaries of Alkmaar, and for the good of France, they must win. Because if the Dutch pass and end up winning this Europa League Conference, and only in this case, the Netherlands will steal 5th place from us.
The stake is major. The 5th place in the UEFA index at the end of this European season will allow the country which occupies it to send four clubs to the new formula of the Champions League in 2024-2025 (three directly and another in the preliminary round). It would also allow the 5th in Ligue 1 and the winner of the Coupe de France to go directly to the group stage of the Europa League, and the sixth to access the Europa League Conference play-off. That is a total of seven European clubs by 2024.