The UEFA Index is a bit like the goose that lays the golden eggs for the various leagues. Clubs by country must perform as well as possible to remain in the top positions. France has struggled several times in Europe, but managed to climb to 5th place at the end of the 2023-2024 season, earning seven European qualifiers (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 position at the end of the 2025-2026 season, or even catch up with Germany. However, the results this week are not encouraging.
The UEFA Index by country (over the last 5 seasons, including the current one).
Source: UEFA official website.
Indeed, even though PSG’s victories against Bayer Leverkusen (2-7) and Olympique Lyonnais’s victory against FC Basel (2-0) allowed them to pick up a few points, the overall results are rather negative. AS Monaco drew 0-0 against Tottenham, which was relatively acceptable against a strong team. It’s more annoying to see Strasbourg only draw 1-1 against Jagiellonia Bialystok (Poland) despite largely dominating the game.
There are also, and above all, Olympique de Marseille’s defeats against Sporting Portugal (2-1), with a rather stupid red card despite being a winnable opponent, as well as Nice’s setbacks against Celta Vigo (2-1), which is all too common for the Niçois, and Lille’s home defeat against PAOK (3-4) after a crazy match that leaves a lot of regret.
The idea of catching up with the Germans is becoming a little more complicated, even if not all the results have been excellent (victories for Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Freiburg, and Mainz, defeats for Eintracht Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and, of course, Leverkusen).
They still have a significant lead over the Netherlands, with the essential task of maintaining fifth place. However, they will have to be wary of Portugal and Belgium, who can quickly move up as the seasons progress.
