West Ham did French clubs a favour on Thursday by beating AZ Alkmaar 2-1 in the Europa Conference League, a result that allows France to retain their precious fifth place in the UEFA coefficient, despite the threat of the Netherlands.
To discover
- Europa League schedule and results
- Schedule and results Europa League Conference
The Netherlands could take fifth place in the France provided AZ Alkmaar won the first and second legs of their semi-final against West Ham, and then the C4 final, all without going through a penalty shootout.
The "Hammers" of London have prevented this scenario which would have had the unfortunate consequence of losing the France a place in the new formula of the Champions League, expected from the 2024-2025 season.
0 points for French clubs
This hypothesis has gained in consistency according to the disappointments experienced by the six French clubs involved at the beginning of the season in European competitions.
Paris SG took the door in the Champions League in the knockout stages against Bayern Munich, while Olympique de Marseille did not survive the group stage. Monaco and Rennes left the Europa League in the sixteenth final.
Nantes fell to the great Juventus Turin in the play-offs of the Europa League while Nice, the last French representative on the continent, stumbled against Basel in the quarter-finals of the Conference Europa League, eliminated in extra time in the second leg.
In the event of a fall to 6th place in the UEFA coefficient, Ligue 1 would have lost a place in the Champions League set up from the 2024-2025 season. In other words, only three of its representatives would have qualified for the great European Cup (two directly and one in the preliminary round), against four (three directly and one in the preliminary round) as provided for in the reform for the fifth European country.