Portugal today confirmed it will finish the football season in sixth place in the UEFA country rankings, swapping places with the Netherlands, with three teams heading to the Champions League in 2027/28 — two directly and one via qualifying play-offs.
FC Porto’s victory away at Stuttgart (2-1) in the Europa League round of 16 first leg confirmed that Portugal cannot slip back to seventh place in the five-season club coefficient standings in 2025/26.
Read more about this topic: Europa League: FC Porto beat Stuttgart 2-1 (with video)
Portugal holds 69.666 points with three of five clubs still active in the round of 16 across European competitions, while the Netherlands sit seventh with 67.345 points and only AZ Alkmaar remaining in the same stage of the Conference League, after their other five representatives were eliminated. Even if AZ were to win the Conference League with nothing but victories, the Dutch could not overtake Portugal, who hold an insurmountable 2.321-point lead over their pursuers and 7.816 over Belgium in eighth, who have only Genk remaining in the Europa League.
With 9.395 points in 2025/26, the Netherlands currently sit 14th among the best-performing federations in European competition this season, compared to Portugal’s 17.000 points, which closes out the top five.
Two years ahead of schedule, Portugal has fulfilled the goal set at the start of the season by the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) under its “Meta 2028” plan, running in parallel with the centralisation of audiovisual rights for top and second division matches.
Despite entering the league phase at a disadvantage to the Netherlands in both coefficient (minus 4.400 points) and number of clubs (four against six), Portugal recovered in the UEFA rankings with the help of Sporting and Benfica in the Champions League and FC Porto and Sporting de Braga in the Europa League — after Santa Clara’s elimination by Irish side Shamrock Rovers in the Conference League preliminary play-off.
Reigning double champions Sporting finished seventh in the Champions League phase and avoided the play-off, reaching the round of 16 directly, where they lost 3-0 away to Norway’s Bodø/Glimt on Wednesday. Benfica, eliminated in the play-off by Real Madrid — record holders with 15 Champions League titles — had secured 24th place, the last direct round of 16 entry, on the final matchday of the league phase.
FC Porto and Sporting de Braga progressed automatically to the Europa League round of 16, which began today, facing Stuttgart and Ferencváros respectively after finishing fifth and sixth in the league phase.
Read more: Champions: Sporting lose 3-0 in Norway (with video)
As for the Netherlands, double champions PSV Eindhoven and Ajax were eliminated in the Champions League league phase, as were Go Ahead Eagles, Feyenoord and Utrecht in the Europa League, while AZ Alkmaar needed the play-off to reach the Conference League round of 16.
Combining league phases and knockout rounds, Portuguese clubs have accumulated 19 wins, five draws and 12 defeats in 36 games (54-42 goal difference), while their Dutch counterparts managed only 13 wins in 49 matches, with five draws and 31 defeats (59-90).
