Extra Champions League spot: Germany avoids Portugal and spa…

Stuttgart’s victory away to Celtic on Thursday (4-1) , in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16 play-off , allowed Germany to increase its lead over Portugal in second place in this season’s UEFA ranking, in the fight for one of the two places that grants an extra spot in the 2026/27 Champions League.

After overtaking Portugal on Wednesday, as reported by Maisfutebol , the Germans, with Stuttgart’s victory, added another 0.286 points to their 2025/26 season tally, bringing their total to 17,071 points. Their advantage over Portugal, currently in third place, is now 0.471 points.

Spain, which is behind Portugal in fourth place in the season ranking, closed the gap on its Iberian neighbor with Celta Vigo’s victory (2-1 away to PAOK), also in the Europa League. With an additional 0.250 points added tonight, Spain now has 16,156, 0.444 less than Portugal.

Italy, currently fifth in the standings, also closed the gap with victories for Bologna (Europa League, 1-0 against Brann) and Fiorentina (Conference League, 3-0 against Jagiellonia). They totaled 0.571 points this Thursday, following the disaster in the two Champions League days with defeats for Juventus, Atalanta, and Inter Milan.

In the season’s top 10, this Thursday was also marked by Poland overtaking France in sixth place. The Polish teams saw Lech win and Jagiellonia lose in the Conference League. France suffered a defeat with Lille in the Europa League.

Leading the season rankings and, like Germany, in a Champions League qualifying spot, is England, which added more points this Thursday with Nottingham Forest’s victory (Europa League) in the debut of Portuguese coach Vítor Pereira and Crystal Palace’s draw (Conference League).

TOP 10 SEASON RANKING:
1st: England, 21,513 (9/9 clubs) | +0.555 points this week
2nd: Germany, 17,071 (6/7) | +0.857
3rd: Portugal, 16,600 (4/5)
4th: Spain, 16,156 (6/8) | +0.625
5th: Italy, 16,071 (6/7) | +0.571
6th: Poland, 14,125 (3/4) | +0.500
7th: France, 14,035 (5/7) | +0.285
8th: Greece, 12,300 (4/5) | +0.200
9th: Cyprus, 11,906 (2/4)
10th: Denmark, 11,750 (1/4)

Five=year ranking: AZ’s defeat helps Portugal

In the broader UEFA ranking, which sums up the last five seasons (since 2021/22), the Netherlands did not score any points this week. AZ Alkmaar, the only Dutch club still active in UEFA this year, lost 1-0 away to Noah of Armenia in the Conference League.Thus, in a week in which Benfica also failed to score points for Portugal, the Portuguese advantage in sixth place remains unchanged: 69,266 for Portugal to 66,595 for the Netherlands.