France move back above Portugal in the UEFA Coefficient rankings - and things could still get worse
A winless week in European competition from Portugal's four club representatives sees Portugal once again drop below France in the UEFA Coefficient rankings.
With Benfica and Porto only managing a draw, and Sporting and Braga falling to defeat, Portugal picked up just 0.333 points towards their Coefficient tally, whilst France had a more productive week, securing two wins and 4 draws to add 1.333 to their total and leapfrog Portugal back into 5th in the league standings.
It means Portugal remained in the top 5 rankings for less than a month, having first overtaken France towards the end of August - and it is unlikely that they will be able to catch France again in the near future.
This is because France have all six of their representatives still competing in European competition, while Portugal have just four after Santa Clara and Paços de Ferreira were both knocked out in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
If anything, therefore, France are likely to only extend their advantage over Portugal, rather than be caught by the Primeira Liga.
Further doom and gloom comes in the form of the Netherlands, who are a major threat in catching Portugal in the standings further down the line. The Dutch also have all five of their teams left in European competition - and because they had fewer teams to begin with, every win (or draw) is more valuable, and thus earns them more points, than every win (or draw) secured by a Portuguese team.
With Ajax defeating Sporting, the week got off to a bad start in terms of the association's coefficient, whilst the other Dutch outfits between them then managed to pick up a win and three draws, remaining undefeated.
With Portuguese clubs having also been handed very difficult groups, in particular the three Champions League representatives in the shape of Benfica, Porto and Sporting, it is difficult to envisage Portugal managing to pick up as many points as they have in previous years, particularly if one or two fail to even secure 3rd place in their group to drop down into the Europa League. It could be a challenging season in Europe - which would leave a mark on Portugal's Coefficient record for the next 5 years.
Photo author: Sandro Halank. License link.
