It has been repeated enough in recent months: Belgium has fallen back in the European hierarchy. So much so that next year, no Pro League club will be guaranteed to play in the Champions League. A sacred stone in the shoe of Belgian football.
But the clubs seem to want to wash the affront this season. Indeed, Bruges, Anderlecht and Union have all won this week. While Ghent snatched a draw from Molde. This allowed to pocket a good number of points in the UEFA coefficient. As a reminder, the latter is established according to points which are awarded in relation to results and qualifications. To establish it, UEFA takes into account the last five years. The 2017/2018 season will therefore be a distant (bad) memory. Which is excellent news because the Belgian clubs had brought back only 2600 points during this dark year. For comparison, they have already brought back… 3800 points this season alone!
The three victories this week therefore brought 1400 points to the coefficient. Much more than our direct competitors. Indeed, Norway (12th) only took 0.5 points, Serbia (11th) 0.250 pts, Austria (9th) 0.8 pts and Scotland (8th) no points. Results that propel us ninth for next season tied with Austria! A place in the top 10 which would again give us a mandatory qualifier in C1 and allow a second team to skip a preliminary round to qualify for the Cup with big ears.
Provisional classification:
8. Scotland 35.200 (+0.000)
9. Belgium 31,800 (+ 1,400)
9. Austria 31.800 (+0.800)
11. Serbia 29.125 (+0.250)
12. Norway 27.250 (+0.500)
It should also be noted that the war between Russia and Ukraine has had a strong impact on the ranking. The Russian clubs have been excluded from all competitions while the latter are, given the circumstances, in great difficulty.