- The promotion of two Polish clubs to the league stage was an obligation. We are happy that we managed to do it, but against the background of Europe it is not an exciting result. We were even beaten by two theoretically weaker countries
- The most points were given to Poland by Legia Warsaw and… Wisła Kraków. Her attitude deserves huge applause
- Only 14 countries do not have any teams in the cups anymore
- Thursday brought two very bad results for Poland and one good one
- We don’t have any teams in the CL or LE where higher bonuses are up for grabs
- You can find more interesting stories in Przegląd Sportowy Onet
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Poland consistently ranks 18th in the UEFA domestic ranking. The long-term goal is to advance to 15th place, which gives two teams in the Champions League qualifiers and a total of five teams in the cups. However, falling below 22nd place brings tangible negative effects (the Polish champion would have to start from the 1st round of the Champions League qualifiers), but this also seems unlikely this season. The current season, however, may decide where it will be closer to the Ekstraklasa – whether it will be able to look up the ranking with hope or fear for maintaining its position.
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The most points for Poland were given by Legia Warsaw and Wisła Kraków
The elimination phase ended with the minimum plan being fulfilled. Jagiellonia Białystok will play in the Conference League, although they have only added 0.500 points for Poland so far – this is the result of two wins with FK Panevėžys. The remaining four matches (two with Bodo/Glimt and Ajax) ended in defeats and it is a pity that they did not manage to take any points here.
Śląsk Wrocław added the same number of points: this is the result of individual victories against Riga FC and St. Gallen.
The plan was implemented by Legia Warsaw. She advanced to the Conference League, partly by using her seeding in each qualifying round. She won five of her six matches (only drawing with Brondby), which gave her 1,375 points in the ranking.
Wisła Kraków was a very positive surprise. We didn’t have too many expectations for the winner of the Polish Cup, because they usually play in the 1st league. But despite this, Wisła added 1 point to their joint account – that’s more than Piast Gliwice, Lechia Gdańsk, Jagiellonia Białystok or Cracovia in previous years. Wisła played eight matches, winning four of them (two with KF Llapi and one each with Spartak Trnava and Cercle Brugge). What’s important is that after losing to the Belgians 1:6 in the first match, they won the return match (4:1) – these points count just as much as any other.
In total, this gives Poland 3.375 points. This is a good result, especially considering that Polish clubs will play at least 12 more matches in the cups (Jagiellonia and Legia six each).
Poland is not an exception. Two weaker countries proved to be more effective
But it is worth taking a look at how many teams will play in the cups from each country:
- 8 teams – Italy, Germany
- 7 – England, Spain
- 6 – France
- 5 – Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium
- 4 — Czech Republic, Türkiye, Austria
- 3 — Switzerland, Greece, Scotland, Sweden, Cyprus
- 2 — PolandNorway, Denmark, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovenia
- 1 — Israel, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ireland, Armenia, Iceland, Latvia, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, Wales, Belarus
As many as 16 countries have three or more teams in the cups. A total of 22 countries have at least two. This best shows that in order to even think about maintaining the current 18th position, two Polish teams must play in the league stages every year. Hell, even 24th Sweden or 25th Cyprus entered one more team. We should be happy that we avoided a slip-up, but if we have ambitions for something more, then the promotion of two teams must be the standard below which we cannot fall.
In addition, another 18 countries have one representative each. This means that 40 countries will be represented in the cups in the fall!
Only 14 countries no longer have any teams. This is the result of the elimination system, which makes it much easier for the champions to advance to the main phase of the cups. The second reason is the reform of the cups and the conversion of the group stages into the league stages – a total of 108 teams play in them (last season there were 96).
This is what the UEFA national ranking looks like at the moment:
UEFA National Ranking (Photo: https://kassiesa.net/uefa/data/method5/crank2025.html)
There is little indication that Poland’s position will change any time soon – we are 1,600 points ahead of Croatia (which has only Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League) and 1,875 points behind Scotland (which has three teams in the cups).
Austria has already left us behind: it has 4,375 points more. In addition, it has four teams in the cups: Sturm Graz and Salzburg in the CL and LASK and Rapid in the LK (Austria had five teams in the cups).
The deficit to Israel is as much as 4 points, although only Maccabi Tel Aviv remains in the cups (they will play in the LE).
Two bad news for Poland
The deficit to Greece is 2.875 points. Olympiakos and PAOK will play in the LE, but here comes another piece of bad news: Panathinaikos has also advanced to the LK. The team from Athens eliminated RC Lens after winning 2:0 (1:2 in the first match). A French victory would be much more beneficial for Poland, and it would be easier for the Greeks to drive away the Poles.
The deficit to Denmark is 2,700 points. Midtjylland will play in the LE, while FC Copenhagen advanced to the LK at the expense of Scottish Kilmarnock.
The closest we have is Scotland, only 1.875 points behind. But the Scots have one team in each competition: Celtic in the CL, Rangers in the LE and Hearts in the LK. The only good news is that the Scots’ record is divided between five teams.
It will be very difficult for other countries to catch up with Poland: Serbia is 2,950 points behind. Crvena will play in the CL, and TSC in the LK, but the latter club is doing very poorly in the cups — it loses almost all of its matches, and its advancement is only the result of the good seeding of the Serbs (who are currently losing). In addition, Serbia’s achievements are divided into five teams, as is Ukraine — which is almost 4 points behind Poland, and has only two teams left (Shakhtar Donetsk in the CL and Dynamo Kiev in the CL).
Additional bonuses in CL and LE
Now all that remains is to wait for the results of Friday’s draws: Europa League (1 p.m.) and Conference League (2.30 p.m.). It is also worth remembering that in the CL and LE each team plays eight matches, while in the LK only six. This means that Jagiellonia and Legia will have fewer chances to win points than other rivals.
In addition, the highest bonuses for taking a specific place in the league phase are available for grabs in the CL, in the LE they are slightly lower, and the lowest in the LK. On the other hand, in the CL and LE the competition is much stronger and it may turn out that it is easier to score points in the LK, where the champions of Wales or Northern Ireland play, among others. Only one thing is certain: every match and every point counts.
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Source: Onet Sports Review
Date created: August 30, 2024 05:10
Journalist of the Onet Sports Review
