Threatened with losing two places in the Champions League: France widen the gap slightly on Portugal | Goal.com

Published on 16 Oct 2026 | Reading time: 2 minutes

France have nudged their lead over Portugal a little wider in the fight for fifth in the UEFA coefficient rankings. The cushion is still a thin one after Portugal cut into it heavily, according to French network RMC.

Four wins and three defeats across the three European competitions have left French clubs on 70.296 points, 3.746 clear of sixth-placed Portugal on 66.550.

Back on 17 September, after the opening round of Europa League fixtures, that gap sat at 3.403 points.

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Tuesday brought the scare. Sporting Lisbon beat Lens 2-0 in the only French-Portuguese meeting of this season's league phase, and Lille were then taken apart 3-0 by Arsenal.

Wednesday turned it around. Paris Saint-Germain won 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City, Lyon saw off Crystal Palace 3-2 and Rennes edged OFI Crete 2-1 in the Europa League, before Monaco won 2-1 in Sofia in the Conference League on Thursday.

Marseille's 1-0 home defeat to Olympiacos barely dented the week's overall tally.

Portugal's five clubs fared worse. Sporting won in the Champions League and Benfica in the Europa League, but Porto, Tourizense and Braga all lost in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League respectively.

Summer is where the damage was done. The coefficient counts only the last five seasons, so France dropped their fruitful 2021-2022 haul of 18.416 points, against 12.916 for the Portuguese clubs. A lead of 10.332 points last summer shrank dramatically.

Portugal are also having the better campaign this time round, with 6.300 points to France's 5.214.

Fifth place matters enormously to French clubs. It hands them seven European berths: four in the Champions League, one of those through qualifying, two in the Europa League and one in the Conference League.

Slip to sixth and two of those Champions League places go, leaving just two clubs in the competition for 2027-2028, one of them direct. One berth would vanish entirely and the other would drop into either the Europa League or the Conference League, cutting France from seven European places to six if Portugal go past them.

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