POrtugal is well positioned to guarantee an extra place in the next 2026/27 Champions League sports season, due to the performance that its five representatives in European competitions (FC Porto, Sporting, Benfica, Torreense and Sporting de Braga) have been delivering, currently.
All things considered, 5,900 points have already been won, which is worth second place in UEFA’s accounts, immediately behind England, which has 5,944 points and, nothing more, nothing less, than… nine clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Brighton).
The ‘tickets’ planned by UEFA will be addressed to the top two teams in this table, so the news is good… despite the approach of Spain, which is close behind, with 5,875 points and eight teams (Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Real Betis, Villarreal, Real Sociedad, Celta de Vigo and Getafe).
Next are Azerbaijan (with 5,625 points and one club), Norway (with 5,600 points and four clubs), Germany (with 5,571 points and seven clubs), Turkey (with 5,100 points and four clubs), Austria (with 4,800 points and three clubs), Greece (with 4,600 points and four clubs) and, closing the top10, Italy (with 4,357 points and seven clubs).
This year, remember, the I League includes three places for what is the biggest club competition in European football (two directly for the league phase and one for the third qualifying round). Fourth place gives access to the Europa League, and fifth to the Europa Conference League (in both cases to the second qualifying round).
Accounts that, however (and as happened last season), will always be influenced by the winner of the Portuguese Cup.
Where did Portugal’s points in the UEFA rankings come from?
Portugal began to accumulate points for the UEFA ranking very early on, due to the participation of Benfica and Sporting de Braga right from the second qualifying round, respectively, of the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. The former have five wins, one draw and one defeat after seven games, and the latter have four wins, two draws and no defeats in the six matches played.
Sporting came out on top in the two matches played so far in the Champions League, and Torreense one, in their (historic) debut in the Europa League. Much less happy has been FC Porto, which was defeated in its first rounds of the million-dollar competition, meaning it has not yet contributed to these accounts.
In recent days, Sporting (victory over Lens, at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, 0-2) and FC Porto (defeat against Real Betis, at Estadio de La Cartuja, 3-2) have already played. This Thursday, the ‘hostilities’ will be opened by Torreense, who, at 5:45 pm, will face Sunderland, at the Dr. Magalhães Pessoa Stadium. Later, at 8pm, Benfica will host Celtic, at Estádio da Luz, and Sporting de Braga will visit Copenhagen, at Parken.
