UEFA rankings: Disappointing week for French football | OneFootball

The UEFA index is somewhat like the goose that lays golden eggs for the different leagues. We find clubs from each country that need to perform well to remain in the top positions. France has often faced challenges in Europe, but managed to climb to 5th place by the end of the 2023-2024 season, securing 7 spots in Europe (4 for the Champions League, including 3 direct, 2 for the Europa League, and 1 for the Conference League). The goal was to at least maintain this rank by the end of the 2025-2026 season, or even catch up with Germany. However, this week's results are not encouraging.

The UEFA index by country (over the last 5 seasons, including the current one).

Source: Official UEFA website.

Indeed, even though there were victories by PSG against Bayer Leverkusen (2-7) and Olympique Lyonnais against FC Basel (2-0) that earned some points, the overall outcome is quite negative. AS Monaco drew 0-0 with Tottenham, which is relatively acceptable against a strong team. It's more concerning to see Strasbourg only manage a 1-1 draw against Jagiellonia Bialystok (Poland) despite dominating the match.

There are also, and especially, defeats for Olympique de Marseille against Sporting Portugal (2-1) with a rather foolish red card against a beatable opponent, as well as losses for Nice against Celta Vigo (2-1), which is too common for the team from Nice, and for Lille at home against PAOK (3-4) after a crazy match that leaves significant regrets.

The idea of catching up with the Germans is becoming a bit more complicated, even though not all their results were excellent either (victories for Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Freiburg, and Mainz, defeats for Eintracht Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and, of course, Leverkusen).

At least there is a comfortable lead over the Netherlands, with the essential mission of maintaining the 5th place. However, caution is needed regarding Portugal and Belgium, who can quickly climb up with the progression of the seasons.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.