The Netherlands have done an excellent job in recent weeks with their so-called “Laboratory Bolognese”. AZ and FC Twente were too strong for their rivals from Andorra, Sweden and Latvia in the preliminary rounds of the Conference League. PSV also scored two victories over Austrian Sturm Graz and scored important points. We didn’t have a perfect week this week, but we are still well ahead of our rivals France and Portugal. Football area Last week he gave an extensive situation report and will give a short update after this European tour.
Eindhoven
PSV kicked off this European week with a 2-2 draw at Ibrox. The people of PSV can reach the group stage of the Champions League next Wednesday if they beat Rangers FC at home. The fact that PSV came out as winners is significant because clubs get a large number of bonus points from UEFA when they participate in the Champions League.
Current rank (+points this week): #5 ???? Netherlands 54,000 (+0,400) #6 ???? France 52.248 (+0.167) #7 ???? Portugal 47,482 (+0.167)…#8???? Belgium 36,900 (+1,000) Full ranking at https://t.co/MHed8HQ996
Transactions (@uefacoef) August 24, 2023
FC Twente
On Thursday evening, it was the turn of the other Dutch teams. In the last qualifying rounds of the Conference and the European League, Twente, Arizona and Ajax participated. Twente looked to be on their way to an amazing result, but were completely overtaken by Youri Reger’s red card and left the field with a 5-1 loss to Fenerbahçe. To reach the group stage of the Conference League, a real adventure is needed in Enschede next week. Twente didn’t get any coefficient points this week and look fit in Europe.
From A to Z
Dan Arizona. AZ had to deal with Norwegian SK Brann internally. However, Pascal Jansen’s team choked on the Norwegians and even trailed 1-0. Fifteen minutes from time, Pantelis Hatzidiakos headed home the equalizer, enabling AZ Alkmaar to score points in the fight for fifth place in the standings. It is also important that the AZ region looks in good shape next Thursday. In the group stage of the Conference League, many points can be obtained for the Netherlands through six matches.
ajax
Ajax has collected the most points in Dutch football this week. The Amsterdam side were very strong with a 1-4 score against Ludogorets of Bulgaria in the first leg of the Europa League qualifiers, so they are already one match away in the Europa League group stage. Mohamed Quddous has found the net three times, but his chances of staying there next week are slim.
France and Portugal
Our transactional competitors also started operating this week. Portugal’s Braga team defeated its Greek guest, Panathinaikos, 2-1. Panathinaikos, who beat Marseille, can do us another favor next week if they can reach the Champions League group stage for Braga. On behalf of the French, LOSC Lille played in the Conference League play-offs against HNK Rijeka. Lille won in the last minute (2-1), but this match could also be very exciting for Dutch football next week in Croatia.
After this week’s results, the situation looks as tweeted above Yuvakov. The Netherlands is again ahead of France and Portugal, but more Dutch teams have taken part in the tournament. If PSV, Ajax and AZ can reach the group stage and also collect a number of points there, it is very likely that the Netherlands will remain in fifth place in the coefficient ranking. Due to the expansion of the Champions League, this means that the Netherlands will have at least three direct tickets to the Champions League and a ticket to the preliminary round of the Billion Dollar Ball in the 2024/25 season.
