Extra Champions League ticket not yet certain; points AZ and Feyenoord still welcome

Ajax and PSV were recently eliminated in Europe, this week AZ and Feyenoord will try to uphold Dutch honor in Europe: Feyenoord Thursday in the Europa League eighth finals against Shachtar Donetsk and AZ tonight (6:45 p.m.) in the Conference League against Lazio.

An important week for the two Dutch clubs, but also for Dutch soccer as a whole: a second ticket to the Champions League for season 2024/25 is up for grabs. Now the Netherlands has one ticket for the main tournament and one for the preliminary round, but that could become two for the main tournament and one for the preliminary round.

It all comes down to the European Football Association UEFA’s coefficient list. There, tickets for European soccer are distributed among all countries based on the performance of clubs over the past five years.

The currently top four countries on the coefficient list (England, Spain, Germany and Italy) get four tickets to the Champions League. The number five and six are good for two tickets plus one for the preliminary round.

The Netherlands is currently in the important sixth place, but Portugal can still throw a spanner in the works with Porto, Benfica and Sporting in the coming weeks.

The gap between the Netherlands and Portugal is now 2,584 points. In the rest of the season, the Netherlands can still reach a maximum of 6,600 points, and Portugal 7,500.

In the Champions League, Benfica plays Club Brugge and Porto plays Internazionale in the eighth final. After the first (away) game, Benfica is leading 2-0 and Porto is facing a 1-0 deficit. In the Europa League, Sporting takes on Arsenal, which leads the English league, on Thursday.

Holland’s lead is comfortable, but that sixth place is thus not yet certain. That’s why it matters a lot that AZ and Feyenoord get as far as they can in their European competition.